A Bullhead City man charged with a dozen counts across five separate cases rejected a plea offer Thursday while also asking for a new attorney.
For the second week in a row, Austin Richard Peacock, 25, was expected to plead guilty. But his attorney, Jon Gillenwater, said his client rejected a plea offer that stipulated a 13-year prison sentence.
Instead, Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle explained the sentencing ranges in all five cases where Peacock could face up to 200 years if he is convicted of all 12 charges. The sentences could run consecutively to each other since the alleged crimes took place on separate occasions.
Carlisle also rejected, for now, Peacock’s request for a new attorney. Peacock claimed a lack of communication with Gillenwater as the reason for seeking new counsel. Meeting with defendants at the jail has proven challenging during the COVID-19 pandemic. Peacock is being held in Mohave County Adult Detention Facility on a $15,000 bond. The judge set a status hearing for June 15.
Peacock is charged in a 2019 case with two counts of burglary and three counts of trafficking in stolen property. The burglary took place Sept. 11 and 12, 2018, at a Harbor Drive residence in Bullhead City. The trafficking charges stem from an act alleged to have taken place on those same dates in the 4700 block of Highway 95 in Fort Mohave.
In the other 2019 case, Peacock is charged with trafficking in stolen property, which allegedly occurred April 28, 2019, in the 2800 block of Highway 95 in in Bullhead City.
Peacock is also charged in three 2020 cases, including being felony forgery and misdemeanor theft in one case, organized retail theft in a second case, and trafficking in stolen property and two counts of organized retail theft in a third case.
The forgery and theft incident involving U.S. currency occurred Feb. 25 in the 700 block of Hancock Road in Bullhead City. The retail theft incident occurred March 12 when Peacock allegedly shoplifted three impact drills worth more than $430 from Lowe’s store in Mohave Valley.
Peacock was arrested on suspicion of trafficking and retail theft for allegedly shoplifting more than $940 worth of items March 5 at Ace Hardware in the 2300 block of Miracle Mile Road in Bullhead City. The items reportedly were posted online for sale…Â Mohave Daily News