Drug Smuggle Fail

UPDATE: Trial Set for Arizona Inmate Accused of Killing Three Fellow Prisoners in One Morning Ricky Wassenaar was already serving 16 life sentences when three inmates died at an Arizona prison. Now he faces a murder trial that could end in a death sentence. Court records schedule Wassenaar’s trial for Jan. 25 through March 27, 2028. He is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the deaths of Saul Alvarez, Thomas Harnage and Donald Lashley. The three men died after an altercation on April 4, 2025, at the Cimarron Unit of the Arizona State Prison Complex in Tucson, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry. All three had convictions involving children. Alvarez was serving a sentence for first-degree murder. Harnage had been sentenced for sexual conduct with a minor, while Lashley had been sentenced for sexual conduct with a minor and child molestation. Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller has filed notice that prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty. “I believe the death penalty is the appropriate sentence given the defendant’s extensive history of violence,” Miller said. His office says the case meets the legal requirements for a possible death sentence. Wassenaar’s existing life sentences stem from a 2004 hostage standoff at another Arizona prison. He was convicted the following year on 19 charges connected to that incident, including kidnapping, aggravated assault, sexual assault and escape. The Tucson killings will now go before a jury in a trial expected to last about two months. Wassenaar has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges.

Ricky Wassenaar was already serving 16 life sentences when three men were killed at an Arizona prison on the morning of April 4, 2025. He later told a reporter he wished he had killed more. The dead were Saul Alvarez, Thorne Harnage and Donald Lashley, all convicted of sex offenses involving children. Alvarez was Wassenaar’s cellmate. According to accounts Wassenaar gave after the killings, he attacked Alvarez in their cell, then carried a heavy rock concealed in a laundry bag into the prison yard and used it against Harnage and Lashley. Those details come largely from Wassenaar and a prison advocate; the Arizona Department of Corrections had not confirmed the full sequence when the Arizona Mirror reported it. Wassenaar made no attempt to hide his claimed motive when he spoke to the Mirror. “The taxpayers no longer have to pay for them,” he said. “I’m paying my debt to society.” He also said he had wanted to kill more prisoners. The killings raised a question that predates that morning. Wassenaar had previously claimed responsibility for the November 2024 death of another cellmate, Joseph Desisto, and warned that he would kill anyone else placed in his cell. Desisto’s autopsy did not establish strangulation, and his cause of death was inconclusive. Wassenaar’s claim remains unproven. Wassenaar’s 16 life sentences stem from a 2004 attempted prison escape that turned into a 15-day hostage standoff at the Lewis Prison Complex. Despite his public statements about the three April killings, he pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors have filed notice that they intend to seek the death penalty. His trial is scheduled to begin in January 2028. Read more info about his upcoming trial and watch the video [here](/post/breaking-already-serving-16-life-sentences-arizona-inmate-accused-of-killing-three-child-sex-offenders-in-one-morning-gets-trial-date).