MOHAVE COUNTY — A Midvale, Utah woman will join her husband in the Arizona Department of Corrections for transporting illegal drugs through northwest Arizona. 18 pounds of methamphetamine and 45 grams of heroin were confiscated from their vehicle during an April 30 Interstate 15 traffic stop, just four miles south of the Utah border.
Deputy Mohave County attorney Matthew Houston told Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle that Virginia Romero-Willis, 54, was driving because her husband Rufus Willis, 63, was incapable of doing so.
Defense attorney Greg Pridham and Carlisle said it is clear that Romero-Willis was less culpable than her husband, who told authorities his wife was unknowing and uninvolved.
Romero-Willis pleaded guilty to a charge reduced to attempted transportation of dangerous drugs for sale. She apologized, accepted responsibility, expressed regret and said she learned from the experience.
Judge Carlisle rejected the request that she be placed on probation. He said the quantity of drugs require a prison term and he ordered two years.
Rufus Willis, who previously served a 25-year prison term for a murder conviction, was given an 8-year prison sentence in the drug case.
