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CASSOPOLIS — A Dowagiac man was sentenced to jail and ordered to pay restitution Friday in Cass County Circuit Court.

       Travis Devon Fletcher, 29, of Johnson Street in Dowagiac, pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and unlawful driving away of an automobile and was sentenced to 365 days in jail with credit for 269 days served, $1,616 in fines and costs and $1,244.06 in restitution.

        The incident occurred April 27, 2021 in Dowagiac. Fletcher stole a car, crashed it and then fled on foot. When police arrested him, they found a meth pipe on him.

        Fletcher apologized for his actions. “I don’t want to live like this anymore,” he said. “My brother recently got in a bad accident and I can’t be there because of the decisions I made.”

        “I hope you’re serious,” Circuit Judge Mark Herman said. “Talk is cheap. Realize that when you do something stupid today, you can’t be there for your family tomorrow. Don’t do meth, don’t take people’s cars. I hope you learn from it, also think about how you want to be treated. Treat people the way you want to be treated.”

        Judge Herman noted that Fletcher has spent about four years of his life locked up in either jail or prison. “You have to decide what’s more important to you,” he said. “You took a car for a few minutes, smoke meth and spent months in jail.”

“Your guidelines call for prison, the agreement here is for one year in jail,” he added. “You have to ask if it’s worth it. You have to have more respect for yourself and not do something stupid. You need to look with your record where you’re headed in life. Anything that you do that’s a felony is prison guidelines.”