A Dowagiac man busted for cooking meth last winter will be a given a final shot to get clean and live the peaceful life he says he desperately wants.

Cass County Circuit Court Judge Mark Herman sentenced 37-year-old James Chester Truelove to a three-year term on the state’s Swift and Sure Sanctions Probation Program during the man’s appearance in court Friday morning. Truelove was punished for several crimes, including operating/maintaining a lab
involving methamphetamine, operating/maintaining a lab involving hazardous waste, possession of methamphetamine and possession of marijuana.

Truelove pleaded guilty to the crimes during an appearance in court March 3.

Herman ordered the Dowagiac man to complete drug rehabilitation at the Twin County Probation Center, in Three Rivers, as part of his sentence.

The charges against Truelove stemmed from the man’s arrest, which followed the execution of a search warrant at his residence on Manley Drive in Wayne Township by police on Dec. 7. Officers discovered evidence of drug manufacturing inside the man’s home and camper, as well as found marijuana inside a shed on the property.

Truelove has a criminal history that dates back 20 years, and includes a crime that resulted in a 14-year stint in prison, Herman said.

Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz also pointed out Truelove’s criminal background, and noted the man has told police that he just wants to live a normal life, going to church and spending time with his family. While Fitz was not opposed to Truelove’s admission into the Swift and Sure program, the prosecutor warned the defendant that he would be kept on a short leash and that the county would throw the book at him if he failed to comply with his conditions.

“We need to know what this defendant’s true love is,” Fitz said. “Is it himself and drugs, or is it others and his freedom? That is really up to him.”

Truelove’s attorney, Robert Drake, told the judge that Swift and Sure was designed for defendants like his client, who, after spending so many years behind bars, have trouble readjusting to life on the outside.

“Twenty years in prison did nothing to imbibe Mr. Truelove with the skills you need to have a normal life,” Drake said.

Herman accepted Truelove into the probation program, echoing Fitz’s message that if the man did not get his act together, another long stint in prison awaited him.

“I can’t order you to have a normal life,” Herman said. “I can only give you the opportunity to do so. You have to take that opportunity and run with it.”