CASSOPOLIS — A Cassopolis man was sentenced to a year in jail after breaking into a pole barn in Milton Township last fall.

Dustin Douglas Pascoe, 41, of E. South Street in Cassopolis, pleaded guilty to breaking and entering a building with intent to commit larceny as a habitual offender and was sentenced to 365 days in jail with credit for 27 days served. He must pay $1,048 in fines and costs and $1,223.18 in restitution.

The incident occurred in the early morning hours of Nov. 15, 2017, at a property on Anderson Road in Milton Township near Niles. Items taken included electric blades for a saw, and a door was damaged. Pascoe was arrested after his DNA was found on a glove dropped in the driveway of the property.

“I take 100 percent responsibility for my part in the crime,” Pascoe told Cass Circuit Judge Mark Herman.

“You’re 41 years old, and this is your 32nd criminal conviction,” Judge Herman said. “You’ve spent a fair amount of your adult life in jail or prison … I don’t know if you can teach an old dog new tricks.”

In other sentencings:

• A Dowagiac man who told police that his car had been stolen when he actually had crashed into a ditch after speeding is going to jail. Brandon Nicholas Hodge was on probation at the time for a 2016 drug conviction.

Hodge, 19, of Cass Avenue in Dowagiac, pleaded guilty to attempted false report of a felony and violating his 2016 probation. He was sentenced to two concurrent terms of 180 days in jail and ordered to pay $1,398 in fines and costs. He has credit for 43 days served on the new felony and 128 days served on the probation violation.

The false report of a felony occurred Aug. 16 on Vineyard Place in Dowagiac. He contacted police and said his car had been stolen and in an accident. He later admitted that he had taken his eyes off the road to look at his phone.

Herman also revoked Hodge’s probation from the 2016 conviction. This was his third probation violation. He previously violated by being in possession of marijuana and failing to complete a substance abuse assessment. In that case, he lost out on keeping the felony off his record under the Holmes Youthful Training Act.

“At your age, you’re impulsive. You haven’t grown up yet,” Judge Herman said. “Look where this has led you. If you hadn’t lied, you wouldn’t be here on another felony.”

• A former Marcellus village employee pleaded no contest to embezzlement by a public officer, agent or servant and can have the charge reduced to a misdemeanor if she makes full restitution.

Krista Diane Jourdan, 55, of Shannon Street in Marcellus, was sentenced to two years’ probation, $1,498 in fines and costs and $7,223 in restitution. She has credit for one day in jail.

Jourdan was employed by the village as village manager and then as the clerk between 2012 and 2017. She is accused of taking money to which she was
not entitled.

• A Chicago man who has been in jail the last six months after being found with crack cocaine in Dowagiac was given probation and credit for time served.

Lavern Brookins, 53, of Chicago, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine as a habitual offender and attempted possession of a weapon in the Cass County Jail and was placed on 18 months’ probation. He has credit for 186 days served on the drug charge and 129 days served on the weapon charge. He must pay $2,296 in fines and costs.

Brookins, who was in Dowagiac for a funeral, was found with cocaine on April 2 in the 400 block of N. Front Street in Dowagiac. The weapons charge occurred May 25 when deputies found him in possession of a shank after a jail altercation.