Man sentenced to prison on drug charges
The Yuma man who was cleared in the fatal shooting of a woman in a motel parking lot earlier this year was sentenced to prison Wednesday on unrelated drug offenses.
During a brief sentencing hearing, Steven Phillip Brown listened as Yuma County Superior Court Judge David Haws imposed a 3 1/2-year-prison term on him for attempted possession of dangerous drugs for sale, which was one of the offenses he had pleaded guilty to in two separate plea agreements.
Haws also sentenced Brown to 1 1/2 years in prison for attempted possession of a dangerous drug, which was the offense contained in the other plea offer.
“In each of these cases there has been a previous determination of your guilt by way of your guilty pleas,” Haws said.
In addition to giving Brown credit for 149 days previously served on both sentences, Haws also ordered that they be served concurrently.
Brown did ask for leniency, not for himself, but for his wife, who was also charged in the case. He said in court, however, that he accepts responsibility for his actions.
Reading from a prepared statement, Brown said he began using drugs in February 2017 and within a year and a half it had completely ruined his life. Prior to that, he continued, he was a wedding planner, a husband, a father and an active member of the community, who often volunteered his time.
In return for his guilty plea in the two agreements, 15 other felony drug-related charges against Brown were dismissed.
Brown was re-arrested the evening of Sept. 9, less than half an hour after posting bail in a separate, unrelated case.
He and his wife Crystal were arrested at 7:10 p.m. after Yuma County Sheriff’s Office deputies conducted a traffic stop on their vehicle at Giss Parkway and Main Street for a traffic violation.
During the course of the traffic stop, deputies asked Brown for identification, but he refused to show it to them. They then asked him his name and he again refused to comply. When deputies advised Brown to get out of the vehicle, he locked all the doors and began looking at his cellphone.
The car the Browns were riding in had a Nevada license plate. When deputies ran a records check, it came back as no record found.
Brown eventually exited the vehicle. With the assistance of YCSO K-9 Jax, deputies searched the vehicle and found quantities of methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana.
A warrant was later obtained for the cellphone belonging to Brown’s wife, according to court records, and when it was examined, it was found to contain numerous conversations involving her that pertained to the sale of narcotics and smuggling drugs from Mexico into the country in body cavities, YCSO said.
Brown had just been released from Yuma County jail at about 6:50 p.m. that evening after his wife posted a $5,000 bond. He had been arrested earlier the same day at the port of entry in San Luis on a warrant as he was coming back into the country. The warrant was also for drugrelated offenses.
In July, Brown was arrested in connection to the fatal shooting death of 28-year-old Perla Patton Sanchez, of Phoenix, in a parking lot near the Super 8 Motel located in the 1600 block of Riley Avenue. No charges were ever filed against Brown, who claimed the shooting was in selfdefense.
James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@ yumasun.com or 539-6854. Find him on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ YSJamesGilbert or on Twitter @YSJamesGilbert.