KINGMAN – A Bullhead City man wept openly last week when he entered a plea agreement that could send him to the Arizona Department of Corrections. Cory Charles Hess, 42, conceded that he smoked marijuana and violated probation from a 2017 case for being armed when he threatened children who had thrown rocks in his neighborhood.
Hess also pleaded guilty to arson of an occupied structure for setting on fire a home at 5630 on South Pearl Street in Mohave Valley on March 5.
“I burnt somebody’s house down. I’m guilty of that,” Hess told the Court. “I just want to go home and get this over with. I miss my family. I miss my kids.”
Deputy Mohave County Attorney Cameron Patt told Superior Court Judge Rick Lambert that Hess cut open a natural gas line at the home and that he used gasoline to soak clothes to ignite the “gas flash”.
Defense attorney Robin Puchek said that Hess suffers from bipolar disorder. Hess advised that he gets treatment in the form of a shot every two weeks.
Hess could get as little as probation or up to five years in prison when sentenced October 23.
