Category: Court News

A person of interest in two recent bank robberies in Bullhead City reportedly attempted to escape and scuffled with a detention officer in Kingman late Monday afternoon. Stephen Ray Wilkinson, 39, Golden Valley, was picked up Saturday on an arrest warrant for an alleged probation violation. Wilkinson is the focus of ongoing investigation of a March 26 robbery of National Bank of Arizona on Highway 95 and an April 12 holdup at Mission Bank on Palma Way. Police said the suspect told tellers he had a gun and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash in both heists. Mohave County…

The Mohave County Sheriff’s office has distributed surveillance system images hoping the public can help them identify two suspects who broke into a Fort Mohave business. Agency spokeswoman Anita Mortensen said the male subjects entered a back door of the business in the 5500 block of Highway 95 early Thursday morning. Mortensen said surveillance video shows the men first looting a cash register in the kitchen are of the establishment. “The men then entered the office area of the business and went through cabinets and files,” a news release stated. “The men then pried open a safe located on the…

Patrol units and a helicopter engaged in Tuesday’s slow speed pursuit of a bulldozer that was stolen from a Mohave County Road Department gravel pit in Golden Valley. Sheriff’s office spokeswoman Anita Mortensen said deputies responded at 3:15 a.m. to a report that a bulldozer was tearing up asphalt on roadways in the vicinity of Bacobi Road and Shipp Drive. Mortensen said an attempted traffic stop was initiated once the bulldozer was spotted in the 3300 block of Bouse Road. She said the operator would not pull over. “As the bulldozer continued north on Bouse Road, it lowered the blade,…

A Bullhead City man who blew his chance for guaranteed probation will instead go to the Arizona Department of Corrections for six years. Jonathan Hegge, 37, was sentenced by Mohave County Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle last Friday (Ap. 26). Hegge entered a unique plea agreement in February that provided incentive for him to kickstart restitution payments on the more than $67,000 in benefits he and his wife stole over a 22 month period from the Arizona Department of Economic Security. He was guaranteed probation provided he paid back $2,000 up front and that he showed up for his March…

A Lake Havasu City man displayed a sense of humor Monday before a Judge imposed the near double-decade prison term mandated in a plea agreement resolving his criminal cases. The moment of mirth came when Judge Derek Carlisle addressed conflicting accounts of how much restitution Jesse Underwood, 37, is being required to pay. Judge Carlisle selected the lower of the two totals, resulting in an eight-cent reduction in restitution of more than $48,000. “It’s a small victory, but I’ll take it,” Underwood said prompting a mix of smiles and chuckles from the Judge, attorneys and the defendant’s mother. Four cases…

Prosecutor Greg McPhillips told a trial jury Tuesday that a 63-year-old Las Vegas man exchanged more than 1,200 text messages with a detective posing as a 13-year-old girl before driving to Kingman to have sex with her last October. He said officers greeted Kevin Harry Moninger when he showed up at a motel with Viagra in his pocket and gifts for the girl he learned was a detective. McPhillips said Mohave County Sheriff’s office detective Brennan Cassidy, who specializes in forensic electronic case work, posed as a 13-year-old girl named “Sabrina”. He said the initial communication occurred when Moninger responded…