Henderson man sentenced for 2018 Hoover Dam standoff
KINGMAN, Ariz. — A Henderson man was sentenced Thursday to nearly eight years in prison for using an armored vehicle to block a bridge near Hoover Dam in 2018.
Matthew Wright, 32, previously pleaded no contest in the case to making a terrorist threat and unlawful flight from law enforcement. He was sentenced by Mohave County Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle.
Another judge rejected the same plea agreement, declaring it too lenient while saying Wright deserved a prison term of 10 to 25 years.
The unemployed Marine veteran parked his homemade armored vehicle on the O’callaghan-tillman Memorial Bridge in June 2018, triggering a 90-minute standoff before he drove south on U.S. Highway 93 into Arizona.
He surrendered to authorities after his tires were flattened by police spike strips and the vehicle became stuck on a dirt road in a remote part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
No one was injured, but police found an AR-15 rifle, a handgun and several magazines of ammunition in the vehicle.
Defense attorney Michael Denea has said that Wright was protesting the government handling of the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas and did not intend to harm anyone.
Prosecutor Bob Moon said witnesses who saw Wright pointing a rifle from his big rig were terrified. Moon said Wright had a menacing appearance while possessing four weapons and some 900 rounds of ammunition.
At a July 2018 hearing, a judge mentioned handwritten letters that Wright had arranged to be sent from jail to President Donald Trump, members of Nevada’s congressional delegation and local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.
The letters bore the motto of a right-wing conspiracy group known as Qanon.