9:26 AM Sep 2, 2011
Former NBA player and Michigan State University star Jay Vincent is asking a judge to keep him out of prison so he can repay victims of a fraud scheme. The 52-year-old Vincent was scheduled to be sentenced today in federal court in Grand Rapids. He pleaded guilty to fraud and tax charges. The government said Vincent and an associate defrauded 20,000 people out of more than $1 million by charging them to become certified home inspectors.
10:29 AM Sep 1, 2011
The Muskegon County sheriff has changed a policy that forced jail inmates to use postcards if they wanted to write from behind bars. But Sheriff Dean Roesler is still restricting mail sent to jail inmates, calling it a security issue. Mail must be on a postcard, not a letter in an envelope. Roesler said he decided to change the policy Tuesday night and was not influenced by a protest by about a dozen people outside his home Wednesday. The protesters held a large sign that said, "Freedom of speech denied.'
10:28 AM Sep 1, 2011
A Detroit-area business owner was among 13 people arrested as part of a two-year federal probe into the theft and transport of luxury rental cars and sport utility vehicles from the United States to Canada for shipment and sale in Iraq. Adnan Hana was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on conspiracy and transportation of stolen goods.
10:26 AM Sep 1, 2011
Police said a 40-year-old mom was the getaway driver in a series of car and home break-ins involving her son in Macomb County's Chesterfield Township. Joanne Hubbard, her 18-year-old son Ted Ohearn and another young man were charged Wednesday with several felonies, including home invasion and concealing stolen property. They were in jail and could not be reached for comment.
10:45 AM Aug 31, 2011
A man's attempt to impress a girl was thwarted when Mike Ver Duin spotted something fishy going on outside his business late Tuesday night. Ver Duin was outside his home and talking to a neighbor when an older-model Ford sport utility vehicle pulled up in front of his adjacent business, Ver Duins at 623 Washington Ave., about 11 p.m. Tuesday, said Lt. Joe Boyle of the Grand Haven Department of Public Safety. A man got out, opened the back of his vehicle and proceeded to lift an approximately 6-foot-tall decorated "Rocket Fish' into the back, Boyle said.
10:43 AM Aug 31, 2011
A man wanted for questioning in several residential burglaries in Norton Shores was apprehended in Grand Rapids on Tuesday. Johnny Carlie Brown was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service's Absconder Unit at approximately 2:30 p.m. on an outstanding warrant. Authorities received a Silent Observer tip that he was in the Grand Rapids area. Brown was later turned over to the Norton Shores Police Department.
8:30 AM Aug 31, 2011
A convicted embezzler who was on parole when he briefly obtained a $9.1 million state tax credit in 2010 was sentenced Tuesday to up to eight years in prison after pleading no contest last month to attempted fraud. Richard A. Short also pleaded no contest to unlawfully using a financial transaction device for using the ATM card of an 87-year-old neighbor, now deceased, who had dementia. Genesee County Circuit Judge Joseph Farah sentenced Short to 20 months to eight years in prison.
10:10 AM Aug 31, 2011
A 50-year-old Holton man charged in connection with the armed robbery of a Ferrysburg convenience store has pleaded guilty to the charges. A sentencing date has been set for Oct. 3 at 10 a.m. Jon Lee DeJong, 8816 Holton Road, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of armed robbery and one count of fleeing police, third degree, in Ottawa County 20th Circuit Court. In exchange, prosecutors will not charge him with being an habitual offender or operating under the influence of drugs, according to court records.
12:00 PM Aug 30, 2011
A Grand Haven man is still in the hospital following a two-car accident Sunday afternoon in Wright Township. Walter Draeger, 72, remained in fair condition this morning at Spectrum Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, a hospital spokesperson said. Sonja Draeger, 72, has been discharged from the hospital, she said. Police said the Draegers were traveling on Cleveland Street at the intersection of 24th Avenue late Sunday afternoon when their 1990 Mazda Miata was struck by another vehicle, which ran a stop sign.
11:01 AM Aug 30, 2011
A 41-year-old Grand Rapids man died and four passengers in his car were seriously injured in a two-vehicle accident late Monday morning near Zeeland. The dead man's name is being withheld pending notification of relatives, said Sgt. Steve Austin of the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department.

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