COURT NEWS

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent

This week’s court news include arraignments in embezzlement and murder cases as well as sentencings.

Berrien County Prosecutor Michael Sepic reported this week on the arrest of two people in connection with the New Year’s Eve ambush shooting and killing of Tyrone Hassel III outside his father’s Benton Harbor area home. Hassel was an active duty U.S. Army sergeant home on leave from Georgia.

Sepic reported that Hassel’s wife as well as a man, Jeremy Cuellar, are alleged to have conspired to kill Hassel. Kemia Hassel and Cuellar, also both active duty soldiers, were having an extramarital relationship and plotted to kill Hassel. Cuellar traveled to Chicago in the days before the murder and awaited instructions from Kemia Hassel.

Kemia Hassel is charged with first degree premeditated murder, a life offense without the possibility of parole. She is currently in the Berrien County Jail on $2.5 million bond.  She faces a Jan. 23 pre-exam conference and Jan. 29 preliminary hearing in St. Joseph.

Cuellar is in jail in Georgia awaiting extradition back to Michigan. He is charged with first degree premeditated murder, a life without parole offense, and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, a two year consecutive sentence.

The wife of a Berrien County Sheriff’s Department lieutenant is charged with embezzlement over $100,000 in connection with her work at a private school in Berrien Springs.

Sarah Jane Kurtz, 50, of West Eureka Road in Eau Claire, is accused of taking nearly $230,000 from the Village Seventh-day Adventist School on Mars Street over an eight year period starting in January 2011 and ending in September. Kurtz had been the school’s secretary/treasurer since 2010. If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Kurtz’s husband, Martin, is a lieutenant in the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department. The incident was investigated by the Michigan State Police as both the sheriff’s department and the Berrien Springs/Oronoko Township Police Department took themselves off the case.

Kurtz was arraigned Jan. 10 in Berrien County Trial Court in Niles. She was released on $10,000 10 percent bond. Her next court date has not been determined as a new judge must be assigned to the case which is being transferred to St. Joseph upon the recusal of Berrien County Trial Judge Charles LaSata.

According to the police report, the alleged embezzlement was discovered last summer when a teacher’s salary check bounced and an audit was conducted. The police report indicated that Kurtz allegedly sent an email to the school in July 2018 confessing to taking $127,000.

The audit showed that money was embezzled from the school in a number of ways including automatic bill payments, the use of the school’s debit card for personal purchases, fund transfers to a personal account and by cash payments, Sepic said.

In prison sentences, a Niles man is going to prison on resisting police and weapon charges.

, 22, of Sycamore Street in Niles, pleaded guilty to resisting and obstructing police and carrying a concealed weapon in an auto and was sentenced to 14 to 24 months in prison on the resisting charge and 16 months to five years in prison on the weapon charge. He must pay $266 in fines and costs and must forfeit the handgun.

He has credit for no time served as he was on parole at the time of the incident from a 2016 attempted breaking and entering conviction. The two prison sentences this week are concurrent with each other but consecutive to any parole violation sentence.

The incident occurred Nov. 10 on Cass Street in Niles when he resisted Niles police officer Scott Swanson and was found to have a handgun in his vehicle.

Berrien County Trial Judge Charles LaSata noted that he had sent Visel’s father to prison several years ago on drug charges. “You have some significant head winds coming at you,” he said. “You have relatives with serious issues.”

 

Oliver Jesse Waldron, 51, of Old 31 in Berrien Springs, pleaded guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon and was sentenced to 16 months to four years in prison. He has credit for 58 days already served and must pay $198 in fines and costs.

The incident occurred Nov. 17 in Berrien Township when he attacked Nathaniel Affriseo with a knife.

Assistant Prosecutor Jane Wainwright noted Waldron has a long criminal record including 32 misdemeanor and six felony convictions. Defense attorney Edwin Johnson III said that several of Waldron’s convictions stem from his alcohol and drug abuse. He asked for a local sentence so his client can get treatment for his addiction problems.

Waldron said he’s finally getting therapy to help him address his problems. “I’m sorry it took me this long to realize I needed mental health help,” he said. “I want to be a better person.”

“Talk is cheap, actions speak louder than words,” Judge LaSata said. “You have had 39 convictions in the 34 years since you turned 17. It’s ridiculous. We’re at the warehouse stage. In this incident, you were assaulting others and using the n-word. You can’t be among civilized people.”