Guns, drugs lead to jail for Dowagiac man

CASSOPOLIS — A 22-year-old Dowagiac man caught with several stolen guns, including a compact but powerful PS-90 rifle, is headed to prison.

Judge Michael Dodge sentenced Vincent Sanchez to 16 months in the Michigan Department of Corrections for several gun and drug charges Friday in Cass County Circuit Court.

Dowagiac police executing a search warrant at Sanchez’s residence on Third Avenue in Dowagiac April 2 found several stolen guns, ammo, magazines and 44 grams of marijuana.

Sanchez, who has a limited prior criminal record, admitted the guns were stolen and that he was planning on selling the marijuana.

Sanchez agreed to plead guilty if the prosecution dropped a felony firearm charge, which carries a mandatory consecutive two-year prison term.

The agreement also stipulated that Sanchez serve 16 months in prison.

Also Friday, 33-year-old Jeffrey Yant, Jr., a Buchanan man with a lengthy drug history, was sentenced to 90 days in Cass County Jail for being caught with half a gram of marijuana in October of 2011.

Dodge told the court Yant has seven prior felony and 16 prior misdemeanor convictions, mostly drug-related.

Yant could be released as early as he pays court costs and fines.

Others sentenced:

• Quentin Thornton, 69, of Grand Rapids, was sentenced to 180 days in jail for attempting to steal more than $100,000 from a Marcellus bank and female victim. Prosecutor Victor Fitz called Thornton a “flim flam artist.”

• George Timm, 43, of Marcellus, was sentenced to two years probation for methamphetamine possession. As a condition of probation, Timm was ordered to successfully complete the court’s Swift and Sure Probation Sanctions Program.

• Christopher Stanback, 41, of Cassopolis, was sentenced to two years probation and credit for time served for possession of cocaine less than 25 grams.

• Jeffrey Garcia, 29, of Dowagiac, was sentenced to three years probation and one year in jail for strangling the mother of his children during a domestic violence incident.

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