BULLHEAD CITY – A Bullhead City woman whose young daughter was murdered by a family friend nine years ago is likely returning to the Arizona Department of Corrections to serve another multiple-year prison term.
Tania Grogan, 38, entered a plea deal on Nov. 28 that would require Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen to order an eight-year prison term for transporting narcotic drugs for sale.
Drugs have permeated years of tragedy for Grogan, whose eight-year-old daughter Isabella Grogan-Canella was asphyxiated by Justin Rector and buried in a shallow grave in Sept., 2014. Rector, now 35, who said he had been high on drugs for two days before the homicide, is serving a life prison term.
Grogan sold drugs to an undercover officer about six weeks after “Bella” was killed and she began serving a five-year prison term for that offense in 2015. During an exclusive interview before she was sentenced, Grogan said she wanted to warn parents to steer clear of drug involvement.
Instead, she was busted in a drug transportation scheme some two years after her prison release. Grogan lamented her post-prison failure during her recent change of plea hearing.
Grogan told Judge Jantzen that she was doing well on parole, helping manage a group of fast food stores, rebuilding her credit and paying off a nice vehicle.
“I was getting clean. I was doing amazing,” she told the Court. “I started getting depressed about my daughter again and then I relapsed.”
Prosecutor Rod Albright said about 4,200 fentanyl pills were confiscated from a vehicle that Grogan occupied that was pulled over in Golden Valley in July. Albright said a large amount of methamphetamine was also seized and that Grogan intended to deliver the drugs for sale in Idaho.
Grogan reflected on Rector, Bela and drug troubles during the hearing.
“I don’t understand why he hurt her,” Grogan sobbed. “I need help, not to be thrown back in (expletive) prison.”
Sentencing is scheduled Dec. 22.
