BULLHEAD CITY – Mohave County Superior Court judge Derek Carlisle expressed bewilderment when he recently sentenced a repeat sex offender from Bullhead City. Carlisle found it odd that two-time ex-con and registered sex offender Jose Luis Rosales was in any position to cultivate another victim, given extensive criminal history.

Carlisle presided over the sentencing hearing for Rosales, 54. His rap sheet includes 1988 convictions for lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14, resulting in lengthy imprisonment in California.

Rosales was released and ended up in Bullhead City where more criminal activity resulted in his 2009 convictions for sexual abuse, failing to register as a sex offender and forgery. He was set free again after serving a 10.5-year prison term in the Arizona Department of Corrections.

“This is a defendant who keeps committing new sex offenses,” Carlisle said, questioning instances of probation and parole that put him in position to harm others.

Rosales was arrested in May after Bullhead City police investigated a woman’s allegations that he engaged in sexual misconduct with her 15-year-old disabled grandson. Rosales and the victim worked together as dishwashers at a restaurant where a co-worker reported witnessing the unspecified incident.

“I’m really sorry for the crimes I’ve committed in the past and what I’ve done just recently,” Rosales told the Court.

Rosales was placed on probation in 2016 for failing to register as a sex offender. He pleaded guilty to violating that probation and to sexual abuse in the new case last month.

Carlisle said he didn’t understand how Rosales was placed on probation after six felony convictions over three decades. And Judge Carlisle wasn’t thrilled by the 5-year prison term mandated in the plea agreement.

“You may not think this way, but I think you’re very lucky,” Carlisle told Rosales. “If I could, I would keep you locked up longer.”

The Judge said he was limited to the 5-year cap agreed upon by case lawyers. Carlisle noted that he could reject the deal but said “it probably wouldn’t do any good,” an apparent reference to the fact that attorneys often seek change of judges to get the same plea agreements approved in another Court.

Carlisle signed off on the deal and imposed the five-year sentence.
Dave Hawkins