Judge exceeds guidelines sends, Florida men to prison
COLDWATER — Branch County Circuit Court Judge Bill O’Grady did not think the one month recommended by Michigan Sentencing Guidelines reflected the potential seriousness of the crime of attempting to...
View ArticleCell phone photos point to Ort for theft
COLDWATER — Shawn Ort, 33, was out of prison less than a month when he was arrested and charged with a Sept. 8, 2014, home invasion on Herricksville Road in Branch County.Ort, from North Adams, served...
View ArticleConsultants recommend fire equipment replacements
COLDWATER — Consultants Emergency Vehicle Response Fire Protection Services, after a four-month study, is recommending that Coldwater’s Ladder 2, Engine 3 and Truck 8 be upgraded or replaced.The three...
View ArticleDeportation sought in domestic case
COLDWATER — Immigration will be notified when Jorge Castillo, 37, is released from his six-month sentence for attempted third-degree domestic violence.Branch County Assistant Prosecutor Scott Smith...
View ArticleBurke arraigned in welfare fraud case
HILLSDALE — Garner Lee Burke, 46, of Quincy, appeared in Hillsdale County District Court Monday afternoon for arraignment.He was arrested earlier Monday morning by the Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Office...
View ArticleKimble to prison for stolen credit card
HILLSDALE — Erin Todd Kimble, 43, of Coldwater, appeared in Hillsdale County Circuit Court Monday morning for sentencing.He was arrested May 4 by the Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Office and charged with...
View ArticleBurke guilty of welfare fraud
HILLSDALE — Garner Lee Burke, 46, of Quincy, appeared in Hillsdale County District Court Wednesday morning for a probable cause conference.He was arrested May 23 by the Hillsdale County Sheriff’s...
View ArticleSheriff's union: County may have an agreement
LANSING — The Police Officers Association of Michigan — representing Branch County Sheriff's Office deputies — withdrew its unfair labor practices action Thursday before a scheduled hearing and reached...
View ArticleHeroin overdose leads to discovery of meth labs
COLDWATER — Rebecca Brouse, 38, is being held under a $100,000 bond, and Donald Kistler Jr., 42, freed on a $25,000 recognizance, as both are being charged with possession of a meth lab and hazardous...
View ArticleButcher receives 9 months
COLDWATER — “We have more jail beds in our county and we are not afraid to use them, “ Branch County Circuit Court Judge Bill O’Grady told Rondee Butcher when he sentenced her to nine months jail,...
View ArticleBranch County man facing prison for meth
HILLSDALE — Timothy Allen Laplante, 51, of Sherwood, appeared in Hillsdale County District Court Thursday afternoon via video teleconference for arraignment.He was arrested Sept. 14 by the Hillsdale...
View ArticleWayne County man charged with CSC
COLDWATER — Michigan State Police returned a Romulus man, Brian Bostain, 26, to Branch County to face charges of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.A 7-year-old Quincy girl told her mother that in...
View ArticleMother charged in abuse case
COLDWATER — Karah Shepherd, 26, will face three life felonies for child and sexual abuse of her infant son.Shepherd, of Coldwater, was held under a $500,000 bond after a two-month investigation by...
View ArticleHeinrich sentenced to 25 years for spousal abuse
COLDWATER — With a life-long history of assaults and abuse, Lee Heinrich, 46, was sentenced to 10 to 25 years prison Monday by Branch County Circuit Court Judge Bill O’Grady.Heinrich had pleaded no...
View ArticleLaplante waives preliminary hearings
HILLSDALE — Timothy Allen Laplante, 51, of Sherwood, appeared in Hillsdale County District Court Wednesday morning for a probable cause conference.He was arrested Sept. 14 by the Hillsdale City Police...
View ArticleSebring jailed for analogues
HILLSDALE — Joseph Ryan Sebring, 37, of Coldwater, appeared in Hillsdale County Circuit Court Monday morning for sentencing.He was arrested May 12 by the Michigan State Police on a felony warrant...
View ArticleParish priest removed for financial irregularities
KALAMAZOO — Rev. Richard Fritz, “Father Fritz,” 69, who headed up the parishes of both St. Mary's Assumption in Bronson and St. Barbara in Colon, has resigned amid an investigation into...
View ArticleHarter facing jail for false pretenses
HILLSDALE — An Athens, Michigan man is facing up to one year in the Hillsdale County Jail for scamming a Hillsdale County woman out of almost $200.The Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Office lodged...
View ArticleLaPlante guilty of meth possession
HILLSDALE — A Sherwood, Michigan man is facing up to 10 years in prison for possession of methamphetamine after he pleaded guilty to the crime Monday afternoon.The Hillsdale City Police Department...
View ArticleScott pleads guilty to meth possession
HILLSDALE — A Quincy man is facing up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of methamphetamine Wednesday morning in Hillsdale County District Court."I was walking down the street by...
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