BULLHEAD CITY – Two Bullhead City residents have drawn disparate punishment for seeking sex with people they believed were minors who were actually undercover officers conducting a sting operation targeting predatory adults engaged in electronic communication. Nine men were arrested during the exercise conducted in the Bullhead City area on Jan. 30 and 31.
A five-year prison term was ordered during a June 11 sentencing hearing for Lucas Robbinson, 46. He was also placed on lifetime probation after being convicted in a plea agreement.
Ryan Carpenter, 28, fared much better at his June 15 sentencing hearing for a plea deal conviction for a charge reduced to attempted luring of a minor for sexual exploitation. Carpenter was placed on lifetime probation, but he avoids prison and served just 22 days in jail.
“I’m surprised you’re not going to prison,” Judge Ryan Esplin told Carpenter, who complimented public defender Bob Heieck. “I think your attorney did a darn good job getting you what you got.”
The defendant pledged clean living and family commitment going forward. “I have no intention of ever doing something like that again,” Carpenter said.
