CASSOPOLIS — A young man who prosecutors said committed a serious crime will spend two years on probation.

Friday morning, Cass County Circuit Court Judge Mark Herman sentenced Tyler Kenneth-Duane Visel, 20, of 52000 block of Twin Lakes Road in Dowagiac, to two years probation on charges of larceny in a building and possession of marijuana or a synthetic equivalent. Visel was also sentenced to 101 days in Cass County Jail, with credit for 101 days already served.

Visel pleaded guilty to the charges during a court appearance on May 31.

The charges stem from events that took place on May 9 in the 52000 block of Lakeview Drive in Dowagiac, when police offers received a report of a theft of a gold box, double eagle coins and a 44-caliber revolver from the Lakeview Drive residence. The homeowner initially reported Visel as a suspect to the crime, but based on things Visel had told him, the victim later told police that he did not believe Visel to be involved. Despite this, Visel was arrested on April 3, and police found the coins, a large amount of cash and loaded rifle at his residence. It was later revealed that Visel had sold a number of coins in order to purchase methamphetamine.

Restitution of $4,859 was requested in the case, the estimated value of the items Visel stole from the victim’s property.

“These aren’t minor charges,” said prosecuting attorney Karl Boersma in the courtroom Friday. “These are serious. When you look at the victim and the money that was taken, when you look at the defendant and the people he was hanging out with and the drugs, this is very serious.”

Boersma asked that Visel be sentenced at the top of the sentencing guidelines, citing a public safety concern.

“I don’t know what it is going to take to stop him. I don’t know what it is going to take to show this is not a course he should be taking,” Boersma said of Visel. “But obviously, there is a risk to public safety. Obviously, he caused an immense amount of stress to the victim.”

Visel’s defense attorney Gregory Feldman disagreed with Boersma, saying that Visel should be sentenced at the lower end of the guidelines and be sentenced to a probation program that would offer him tools to become a more productive member of society.

“[Visel] would benefit from the structure there, being around more positive influences than being in jail,” Feldman said. “He needs to get himself into some treatment, into some classes, where he can get some benefit.”

Though Judge Herman ultimately sentenced Visel to probation, he warned Visel that he would need to take the programs seriously and get his life back on track.

“You are 20 years old, you only have a 10th grade education, and you are going nowhere fast,” Herman told Visel Friday. “You need to make some changes in your life or you are going to spend a lot of time behind bars.”