By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
Last week’s action in Berrien and County courts include sentencings for home invasions, drugs and failing to stop at a personal injury accident.
A Niles man who broke into a number of area buildings to support his drug habit is going to prison.
Gabriel Anthony Paczkowski, 38, of Lake Street in Niles, pleaded guilty to two
counts of second-degree home invasion and three counts of breaking and entering a building with intent to commit larceny in connection with incidents in Bertrand Township.
He was sentenced to two terms of two to 15 years in prison and three terms of 14 months to 10 years in prison. All prison terms are concurrent and must be served in Michigan before he is transferred to Indiana for any charges there. He must pay $654 in fines and costs and just under $12,000 in restitution. He has credit for 131 days served.
He broke into storage trailers and buildings under construction between Aug. 1 and Jan. 31 at locations in not only Bertrand Township in Berrien County but also Cass County and St. Joseph County, Ind.
“You’ve been committing crimes for nearly a decade and a half in 2004,” Berrien County Trial Judge Charles LaSata said. “… You say you wanted to survive, there are plenty of ways to do that besides stealing other people’s property.”
“I do look back and I’m completely appalled, I take responsibility for all my actions,” Paczkowski said. “All I can do is move forward, get treatment and pay people back. Everything I did was completely selfish and greedy. I’ve never been more ashamed.”
A Dowagiac man who has been using marijuana every day since he was seven years old was sentenced Friday in Cass Circuit Court on drug and weapon charges.
Kelly Deron Clark, 46, of Sherwood Street in Dowagiac, was sentenced to 365 days in jail as part of a plea agreement after he pleaded guilty to possession of a short-barreled shotgun, possession of cocaine and possession of a Schedule 4 narcotics, Tramadol. He has credit for 67 days already served and he must pay $1,744 in fines and costs.
Clark provided narcotics to his son and then called police Feb. 1 when his son passed out. Police found marijuana, meth and narcotics as well as a sawed off shotgun in Clark’s possession when they searched the home.
“He is a clear example of the insanity of drug abuse,” Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz said Friday. “He’s been involved with crack cocaine, marijuana and heroin. He needs to understand that it’s bad enough when he endangers himself but then he had loaded guns and put police and others in danger. It’s a volatile mix.”
“At age 46, he needs to take a look at his life. Here in the courtroom today, he looks like he’s 46 going on 76. He needs to get himself clean. He needs to do it for his son, his daughter and his grandchildren. 76 will be a real enough number soon if he doesn’t change his ways.”
“Police responded to a call of an overdose and found you intoxicated,” Cass Circuit Judge Mark Herman told Clark. “You had given drugs to your son and you called police when he passed out. They found marijuana, meth, pills, crack pipes and heroin and also a sawed off shotgun.”
A Benton Harbor man was sentenced to time served for failing to stop at a March personal injury accident in Berrien Springs.
Dennis Christopher Mulkey, 31, of Michigan 139 in Benton Harbor, pleaded guilty to failing to stop at a personal injury accident and was sentenced to credit for 30 days already served.
The accident occurred March 29 in the 100 block of North Cass Street in Berrien Springs.
Despite being given credit for time served, Mulkey won’t be out of custody any time soon. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison May 9 by Berrien County Trial Judge Donna Howard in St. Joseph. That sentence was for violating his probation from a 2017 failure to register as a sex offender sentence.
Judge LaSata noted that Mulkey has “a really bad record” with numerous convictions. “You were convicted of criminal sexual conduct in 2005 and you had six convictions before that,” he said. “You’ve been to prison a couple of times.”
Mulkey’s past record includes the 2005 prison sentence for criminal sexual conduct-attempted assault with intent to commit criminal sexual penetration.
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