BULLHEAD CITY – A pair of Colorado River community drug dealers were sentenced to the Arizona Department of Corrections last week in separate Mohave County Superior Court cases. The 16-year prison term ordered June 18 for Stephen Martin, 60, was stipulated in a plea agreement.
Deputy county attorney Kellen Marlow said Martin, Bullhead City, sold nearly three pounds of methamphetamine over a 10-day period last June to a confidential informant. The prosecutor told Judge Rick Lambert that Martin should be distinguished from people transporting drugs to other locations because he was involved in sales activity that poisoned the local community.
“Typically, an amount like this is bound for another destination in the United States,” Marlow said. “Mr. Martin was pumping this trash into our communities to our people that we know and love.”
Marlow credited the Arizona State Gang and Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission (GIITEM) for the investigation that led to Martin’s arrest while keeping drugs off local streets.
Martin pleaded guilty to two counts of sale of dangerous drugs while three other sales counts were dismissed. Theft, weapon and drug paraphernalia charges in separate 2018 and 2019 cases were also dropped.
In the second case, Judge Billy Sipe ordered a five-year prison term for Robert Grove on June 19. The 46-year-old Fort Mohave man pleaded guilty to a single possession of dangerous drugs for sale count.
Authorities said Grove admitted drug sales when officers confiscated 25 grams of meth from his home in the 4400 block of Calle Valle Vista in March, 2019. It was noted during a hearing early this month that Grove was selling up to an ounce of meth every other day when apprehended.
- Dave Hawkins
