An illegally modified piece of plastic silverware has earned a South Bend man a stint in a Michigan prison cell.

Cass County Circuit Court Judge Mark Herman sentenced 35-year-old Curtis Rashe Turner to a minimum of three years to a maximum of seven and half years in prison on a count of possession of a weapon in jail during his hearing in county court Friday. Turner was also sentenced to a minimum of two years to a maximum of six years in prison on a count of possession of cocaine.

Turner will serve the prison sentences simultaneously. Turner pleaded guilty to the crimes during an appearance in court May 19.

Turner was initially arrested on Dec. 1, when officers with the Dowagiac Police Department executed a search warrant at a residence on Courtland Street on suspicions that crack/cocaine was being sold at the location.

Officers knocked on the door and announced their arrival to execute the warrant, although no one answered. Detecting movement inside, police used a battering ram to knock down the front door and enter the residence. The officers immediately spotted Turner, who fled toward back of the residence, where he tried to dispose of some cash and baggies that contained a white substance down a sink.

The South Bend man was apprehended and placed inside a patrol car. Officers then learned he had an outstanding warrant from the U.S. Marshal Service for absconding while on parole from federal prison. Turner was then lodged in Cass County Jail for the cocaine charge.

A little more than a month later, on Jan. 15, Turner got into a fight with another inmate. Video footage later showed that the man pulled out from his right sock a spork that he had sharpened at one end, which he used as a makeshift weapon.

On top of his federal prison term, Turner also has charges pending against him in Arkansas. Turner has a prior criminal record that began when he was 14 years old. Most of his prior convictions are related to possession and delivery of drugs, Herman said.

Assistant Prosecutor Sarah Mathews noted Turner’s long list of prior encounters with the law, saying that, at 35 years old, the man needed to take a different path in life than the one he is currently traveling. She asked the judge to adopt the department of correction’s recommendation for prison on both counts, saying that, based on his extensive record and the nature of the crimes, the sentences would be appropriate and fair.

“Hopefully, after that prison time, he gets his life turned around so that, when he comes back out, that list of crimes will stop amassing,” Mathews said.

Turner’s attorney, Edwin Johnson, agreed that his client’s life has been heading in the wrong direction, and that he needs to change the people he surrounds himself with.  However, Johnson also noted Turner has an unsolved problem with drugs.

“I would hope that, durning the time he is going to be incarcerated, that he receives some type of substance abuse treatment,” Johnson said. “He seems to return to those things [drugs] whenever he is under stress.”

Herman decided to sentence Turner under the recommended guidelines, saying that he could find no compelling reason to do otherwise.

“There are [treatment] programs, as your attorney has mentioned, in prison that I hope you avail yourself to,” he said.

Turner was given credit for 233 days for the cocaine charge and 188 days for the weapons charge for time already served behind bars.