Category: Court News

There was little discussion at a June 14 hearing where a Lake Havasu City woman was given a four year prison term for torching an RV in Desert Hills. The punishment was prescribed in a plea agreement convicting 42-year-old Vanessa Byrd of arson of an occupied structure. The Mohave County sheriff’s office said Byrd was spotted with a five gallon gas can while running from a burning RV in the 3500 block of London Bridge Road in June, 2017. The agency said Byrd had been trespassing on the property before she set the RV on fire. Byrd had been placed…

A woman was jailed early Thursday for allegedly setting multiple brush fires near the downtown Kingman home where she resides with seven other people. Fire Department officials responded to three separate brush fire incidents Tuesday near a residence in the 500 block of Gold Street. Deputy Kingman Police Chief Rusty Cooper said Patricia Craft, 27, told investigators she suspected her brother lit the fires. “Officers investigating the fires learned that other fires had been set, wherein the home was actually damaged by fire before being extinguished,” Cooper said. Cooper said a surveillance operation was conducted and that officers observed Craft…

Over the past month, detectives with the Lake Havasu City Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Unit have been investigating several vending machine burglaries that occurred between May 4 and May 5, in the 3200 block of Maricopa Avenue. As a result of the burglaries, an undisclosed amount of cash was taken as well as a significant amount of damage caused to the vending machines. During the course of the investigation, Detectives located surveillance video footage that showed the male suspect manipulating the vending machines for several hours. The suspect is described as a white male wearing a dark blue colored shirt, black…

A seven year prison term was ordered June 14 for a Lake Havasu City woman convicted of bringing narcotics into the community. Tracie Bishoff, 50, was sentenced by Mohave County Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle. Lake Havasu City police said Bishoff was a passenger in a 1993 Ford Ranger driven by Paul Kornish, 49, also of Lake Havasu. A K-9 alerted on the vehicle following a routine traffic stop on Highway 95 on April 2. A search of the vehicle resulted in the seizure of 1.5 ounces of heroin and one ounce of methamphetamine. Defense attorney Melissa Moore called it…

A former detention officer who delivered drugs and tobacco to her boyfriend and another inmate at the Mohave County jail was given a two year prison term on June 14. Judge Billy Sipe rejected Ashley Aquino’s request to be placed on probation. The former Bullhead City resident now living with her mother in California said she was 12 weeks pregnant and that she was hoping to put her criminal behavior in the past to focus on her job as a machinist and her future as a mother. “I’m remorseful for what I did and I’m learning from my mistake,” Aquino…