Hamlin man sentenced to 3 to 15 years for police chase, camper larceny. 

Sobers (MCP file photo)

Hamlin man sentenced to 3 to 15 years for police chase, camper larceny. 

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By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief and Allison Scarbrough, Editor. 

Jeromy Richard Sobers, 45, of 4309 N. Jebavy Dr., Hamlin Township was sentenced this week in 51st Circuit Court to serve three to 15 years in prison for larceny, $1000 to $20,000. He was also sentenced to serve, concurrently, a sentence of 40 months to 10 years for fleeing a police officer – third degree and 30 months to four years for assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer. Charges of habitual offender were dismissed as part of a plea agreement. In addition to imprisonment, Sobers was ordered to pay $22,248.77 in restitution along with $524 in fines and fees.

Sobers

The fleeing police and one of the assaulting/resisting/obstructing convictions stem from an incident last June when Sobers fled from a Mason County Sheriff’s Office deputy during a traffic stop. He led police on a high-speed chase that crossed the county line into Lake County.

Lake County sheriff’s deputies assisted Mason County sheriff’s deputies during the 34-mile chase, which reached speeds of nearly 100 MPH. The pursuit ended when Sobers’ Chevrolet Impala failed to stop at the end of a dead end road and struck a tree. He then fled on foot, but was captured after a short foot chase.

The other case stems from the theft of a camper trailer. Sobers and David Gene Newman of Grand Haven were arrested for stealing a 2019 26-foot Cherokee Travel Coach valued at over $18,000 from Vacation Trailer Sales on North US 3 in August of 2019. The Mason County Sheriff’s Office obtained felony arrest warrants for the pair in February of 2020.

Officers with the Muskegon Township Police Department recovered the trailer about a month later and turned it over to the Mason County Sheriff’s Office.

Newman is scheduled for a jury trial on April 20, 2022. 

Sobers pleaded guilty to the charges last July in two separate cases, according to court records. In November 2021 Sobers attempted to withdraw his plea, which was denied by Judge Susan Sniegowski.

“It is the court’s belief this is just a stalling tactic,” said Judge Sniegowski at the time. “Every element was covered at the plea hearing. The motion fails.”

Sobers has an extensive criminal record. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for a conviction of methamphetamine possession in 2019. In 2016, he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for two counts of assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer. Sobers was sentenced to two years in prison for third-offense operating a vehicle while intoxicated/impaired/controlled substance and breaking and entering in 2010. Those offenses took place in Mason County.

In 2002, he was sentenced to four years in prison in Lake County for breaking and entering.

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