Category: Court News

The former Chief of a politically volatile north Kingman fire district will be sentenced Friday following his April jury trial conflict of interest conviction. Wayne Eder, 55, is expected to be placed on probation, but prosecutor James Schoppmann is asking that he be sent to jail as well. Eder was serving as interim chief of the Northern Arizona Consolidated Fire District (NACFD) and was an applicant for promotion to chief when he awarded district business to a company owned by Victor Riccardi, a board member who subsequently voted in favor of Eder’s promotion. Schoppmann argued Eder was “greasing the skids”…

A pregnant Bullhead City woman drew a prison sentence in her drug case last Friday, despite her attorney’s request for a chance at probation. Defense lawyer Scott Ruffner said his client Tracey Cayer, 43, is 16 weeks pregnant and deserves a chance to deliver her baby while out of custody. Ruffner told Mohave County Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle that he can always send Cayer to prison if she violated terms of probation. And Ruffner said drugs found in a Mirada Drive apartment in November, 2017 belonged to her boyfriend at the time, Chase Salveson, 48. “The codefendant was the…

Attorneys conducted a tedious two-hour long evidentiary hearing Wednesday morning before taking less than five minutes making opening statements in a trial in which a Mohave Valley man faces multiple decades in prison if convicted of various drug and weapons offenses. Prosecutor Jaimye Ashley zipped through her presentation telling Mohave County Superior Court jurors they’ll have no trouble finding Joseph Carter, 42, guilty of all counts. She said officers seized an assortment of drugs and weapons when they executed a September, 2017 search warrant at the defendant’s home at 555 King Way in Mohave Valley.  Ashley said more than ten ounces…

Mohave County Superior Court Judge Rick Lambert scolded a Bullhead City man for beating the mother of their child while injuring the four-month-old boy in the process last fall. Lambert, during a recent sentencing hearing in Kingman, told 47-year-old Jonah Ramos his criminal history is replete with violent behavior. “I don’t know what you’re so angry about, but you’re obviously a very angry man,” Lambert said. He imposed a five year prison sentence and encouraged Ramos to sort through and resolve his anger issues while behind bars. Ramos pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and child abuse by domestic violence involving…

Significant jail time has been imposed for a man who left his young children unattended in Lake Havasu City last fall. John Tucker, 28, pleaded guilty to child abuse by domestic violence and possession of drug paraphernalia. A Good Samaritan discovered that the children, four and six years of age, were all alone in a Mesquite Avenue apartment where a pipe with marijuana residue was discovered last October. Though neglected, the kids were otherwise unharmed. Mohave County Superior Court Judge Rick Lambert, during an April 29 sentencing hearing in Kingman, told Tucker that it was disturbing that he told so…