COURT NEWS

Recent court action in Berrien and Cass courts includes a number of sentencings for criminal sexual conduct as well as other offenses.

An Edwardsburg man is going to prison after being convicted of two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Meanwhile, a Dowagiac man was sentenced to probation and jail for assault with intent to commit fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Danny Edward Graham, 60, of U.S. 12 in Edwardsburg, was sentenced in Cass Circuit Court to two concurrent prison terms of 20 to 40 years. He has credit for 184 days already served.

The molestation occurred against a minor at a location in Cass County from 2009 to 2017.

Robert Oliver Mottweiler, 37, of E. Prairie Ronde in Dowagiac, was placed on two years probation and ordered to spend 150 days in jail. He must pay $1,738 in fines and costs.

The incidents occurred between Jan. 20 and Feb. 12, 2017 at a home in Dowagiac when Mottweiler put his hand down the young woman’s pants and fondled her breasts.

“There are disturbing aspects to his actions,” Cass Prosecutor Victor Fitz said. “He took advantage of a young woman with intellectual challenges. Alcohol was involved and the victim was medicated and sleepy. It has had a negative impact on this young lady.”

Both men must register as sex offenders.

In another case, a Niles area teen sentenced last year for shooting his uncle last Easter was back in court on a new charge.

Dakota Stanley, 17, of Kline Road near Niles, was sentenced to two years probation and 365 days in jail after pleading guilty to identity theft. He has credit for 89 days already served.

The incident occurred Nov. 1 at a location in Edwardsburg.

Last year, Stanley pleaded no contest to careless use of a firearm causing injury or death in May and was sentenced in July to two years probation and credit for 30 days in jail already served.

The incident occurred April 16, 2017 at Stanley’s home on Kline Road. The shooting occurred when the teen intervened in an argument between his aunt and uncle, Carolyn and Thomas Lewallen. Thomas Lewallen, 33 and a St. Joseph resident, was shot in the neck.

Stanley had originally faced six felony charges last year: assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and three counts of felony firearm.

Prison sentences were handed down to three people involved in drugs, two of whom had failed in the drug probation programs they had originally been sentenced to.

Bryan Douglas Bailey, 38, of Chain Lake Road in Cassopolis, pleaded guilty to three meth charges and one marijuana charge and was sentenced to three terms of two to 20 years in prison and one term of two to four years in prison. All terms are concurrent.

The incident occurred Oct. 6, 2016 in the 100 block of Broadway in Cassopolis. Fitz said he had a “traveling pharmacy” with marijuana, meth ingredients, a gun and $25,000 in cash.

Joshua Allen Ludlow, 34, of Edwardsburg, was sentenced to five to 20 years in prison for violating his probation from a 2015 conviction for three meth-related charges. Her violated his probation by relapsing into drug use and bringing contraband into a probation program.

Paul Cleo-Clinton Werntz, 36, of M-62 in Edwardsburg, was sentenced to two to 15 years in prison for violating his probation from a 2017 conviction for possession of methamphetamines. He committed new offenses such as home invasion and stalking.