BULLHEAD CITY – Mohave County Superior Court Judge Rick Lambert scolded a Bullhead City woman while sending her to prison Thursday. Lambert told Lauren Mata, 29, she has to change her lifestyle to avoid extended incarceration once she completes her 3.5-year-prison term at the Arizona Department of Corrections.
The punishment was stipulated in a plea agreement convicting Mata of the reduced count of attempted sale of dangerous drugs, as opposed to an actual sale. Defense Attorney Michael Crocker characterized Mata as a user, whose boyfriend, Christopher Campbell, 36, was a drug dealer who also influenced her to engage in sales.
Prosecutor Phillip Delgado told the Court that Mata admitted selling drugs when questioned by officers but claimed she did so to keep Campbell from involvements with other women.
Despite the offering that Mata was simply supporting her addiction, Judge Lambert said the July 2020 warrant search and seizure of 40 grams of heroin at 1786 Riverside Drive is indicative of activity far beyond personal consumption.
“A sales case is completely different than a possession case,” Lambert said. He also didn’t put much weight behind Crocker’s assertion that his client abused drugs to self-medicate to cope with excessive trauma and mental health challenges suffered in early adulthood.
Crocker said Mata wants to serve her time and return to the productive life-track she was pursuing in her late teens, before her life derailed. Lambert expressed skepticism due to indications that previous mental health attention and extensive drug rehabilitation efforts have not worked.
“That doesn’t bode well for you,” Lambert told Mata. He told her she needs to stay clean and remove herself from a culture of drugs or run the risk of someday going to prison for 20 years or longer.
Campbell still awaits trial on multiple narcotic and dangerous drug related charges.
Dave Hawkins