Area residents get jail time on drug charges
Published 1:02 pm Monday, April 21, 2025
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NILES – Two Niles residents were sentenced to jail Monday in the Berrien County Trial Court at the Niles courthouse on drug charges.
Francis
Bambi Lin Francis, 42, of Niles, pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and was sentenced to 300 days in jail with credit for two days served and $258 in fines and costs.
The incident occurred Feb. 10 in Niles. Francis is currently on parole from 2022 convictions and prison sentences for possession of cocaine and possession of methamphetamine in Cass County She was released from prison last June.
“I am very sorry, I would like to take full responsibility for all my actions,” Francis said. “I am taking classes in jail and will sign myself into rehab when I get out. My parole agent wants me to go to a halfway house. I will do rehab no matter what.”
“You have been to prison and jail and been placed on probation,” Berrien County Trial Court Judge Gordon Hosbein said. “Nothing has seemed to work or stick.”
Francis said that while she’s been to rehab twice before, this time will be different because she’s hit “rock bottom” and has nothing left.
Zavarol
“I don’t take any pleasure in sentencing you to jail,” the judge said. “I don’t know if it will do any good but it’s the only thing I can do to give you 10 months of sobriety. I hope at some point you will change your life. It’s a hard thing and a dirty cycle.”
Austin Alfred Zavoral, 28, of Niles, pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and was sentenced to 270 days in jail with credit for 67 days served and $198 in fines and costs.
The incident occurred Nov. 26, 2024 in Niles Township. Zavoral admitted he is an addict and said he wants to change his life and be a productive member of society.
Anthony Christopher Thomas, 21, of Terre Haute, Ind., pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon and unlawful use of a motor vehicle and was sentenced to two concurrent 270 day jail terms with credit for 10 days served and $326 in fines and costs.
The incident occurred Dec. 19, 2024 in Buchanan Township. Defense attorney Richard Sammis said Thomas came to Michigan to buy marijuana and had guns in his car. While he is working now, he has a juvenile record from when his brother involved him in an armed robbery incident.
Rachel Faith Gargano, 23, of Niles, pleaded guilty to larceny in a building and was sentenced to credit for 67 days served and $658 in fines and costs.
The incident occurred Sept. 20, 2018 in Bertrand Township when she stole jewelry from her grandmother.
Defense attorney Dan French noted that the incident occurred over six years ago and hasn’t been in trouble since then.
Dontae Lavon Murphy, 44, of Niles, pleaded guilty to attempted carrying a concealed weapon and was sentenced to $658 in fines and costs and forfeiture of his weapon.
The incident occurred Nov. 18, 2024 in Niles Township.
