The Las Vegas man was arrested in Lake Havasu City last May and eventually extradited to Nevada to face child sexual assault charges. However, the suspect was later released and arrested in Havasu on similar charges seven months later.
Questions remain in 20-year-old Judge A. Garner's case, with few answers as of this week about how or why he was released in Nevada. However, after his release from prison, Garner returned to Havasu City and is suspected of having sex with a 14-year-old girl six times between November and December, Lake Havasu Police Department investigators said.
A police report on Garner's recent arrest remained pending release from Havasu authorities as of Wednesday. Garner was first taken into custody on Dec. 29 in the 1800 block of Kiowa Avenue, according to police records. Garner was charged at the scene with third-degree criminal trespass and a misdemeanor count of refusing to identify himself to law enforcement.
On December 30, Garner was additionally charged with six counts of sexual conduct with a minor under 15.
Garner is currently awaiting felony proceedings in Mojave Superior Court, but prosecutors may also seek answers to lingering questions about Garner's past incidents in Nevada.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department filed a warrant in the case in 2022, which led to Garner's first arrest in Havasu last May. The charges listed in the declaration included five counts of indecency with a child under 14 years of age and three counts of sexual assault of a child under 14 years of age.
Garner's abuse in Nevada allegedly began when he was 10 years old.
According to Las Vegas police records, the victim first reported sexually abusive behavior by Garner in 2021. The victim reportedly told a forensic interviewer at the time that he was attending a therapy session and recalled a repressed incident of alleged abuse that took place during 2011. And in 2017.
The warrant states the first such incident occurred in 2011 when Garner was 8 years old. In that case, the victim said Garner was playing in a toy pool on his lawn when Garner allegedly shoved his hand inside her swimsuit and touched her inappropriately.
According to the victim's statement to police, the incident was witnessed by one of the adults in the home, who pulled the two children into the home. According to the victim, Garner's father threatened Garner with a knife, during which time the victim went to Garner's bedroom. The victim remembered Garner's father screaming, followed by the sound of him hitting his hands and belt.
In this incident, the victim said one of the adults in the home then spanked her on her buttocks over her clothes. According to a 2021 victim statement, the individual demanded that the victim admit that he had caused the alleged sexual abuse.
Las Vegas police say years of rape and abuse
According to the victim's statement to police, a series of incidents occurred in 2012 that included multiple acts of sexual abuse, including forcible rape. In each incident, the victims said that when adults in their families tried to tell them what happened, he claimed he was the one who had provoked the alleged abuse.
In 2014, the victim told police that Garner raped her again in her bed while her parents slept. In the 2016 incident, the victim said Garner took lewd photos of the victim but later deleted them when she told her parents. After that incident, the victim said Garner sexually abused her again.
In the 2017 incident, the victim told Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department investigators that Garner entered her bathroom while she was urinating and grabbed her breasts through her shirt. According to the warrant, the victim was under the age of 14 at the time.
During the incident, the victim reported that Garner pushed him out of the room and kicked him in the groin. Garner allegedly grabbed a pot from the kitchen of his home and attempted to hit the victim in the head, when the victim fled from the home to a nearby gas station.
After the incident, the victim said Garner threatened to commit suicide, and the family eventually contacted law enforcement over the incident.
Garner would have been 15 at the time. Police reports and juvenile court proceedings in the case remain sealed.
The victim's father says he was later informed that the abuse was continuing.
Las Vegas detectives questioned the victim's father in the case. During the interrogation, the victim's father told police that he first learned of the alleged abuse in 2019. The victim's father told police that after learning of the abuse, he threatened Garner and “yelled” at Garner for the crime, according to the report. He also told police that he threatened to kill Garner if he touched her daughter again.
He said he first learned that the abuse continued after he divorced the victim's mother, and said he was informed by both parties of further abusive behavior toward his daughter.
Garner, released from Nevada, will stand trial in Mohave County.
Garner was arrested May 3 in Lake Havasu City and ultimately transported to Clark County to stand trial on five counts of indecency with a child under 14 and three counts of sexual assault of a child under 14. handed over to.
However, as of this week, online records from Nevada's 8th Judicial District Court show no record of any felony charges filed against Garner in the case.
A Today's News Herald inquiry with the Clark County District Attorney's Office had not been returned as of Friday afternoon.
On Friday, Garner remained in custody at the Mohave County Jail on $20,000 bail, and the felony charges are pending in Mohave Superior Court.
