Hart man sentenced to jail for breaking and entering.

Paul Phillips

Hart man sentenced to jail for breaking and entering.

#OceanaCountyCrime

By Allison Scarbrough, Editor.

HART — A 35-year-old Hart man was sentenced to five months in jail for a conviction of breaking and entering with intent Monday, May 4, in 27th Circuit Court.

Proceedings in circuit court are being live streamed on YouTube due to COVID-19 precautions. Inmates appear for proceedings via Polycom teleconferencing from the Oceana County Jail.

Paul Madison Phillips, of 8808 N. 126th Ave., pleaded guilty to the charge, March 9. Phillips testified that he used a screw driver to break into a storage shed on East Main Street in the Village of Walkerville, Dec. 30, 2019.

Sentencing guidelines in the case are 0-11 months.

The maximum penalty for the felony conviction is 10 years in prison.

Judge Robert D. Springstead also sentenced Phillips to 18 months probation.

“I was drunk, so I really don’t know why,” Phillips said last March when asked by the judge why he broke into the shed. “I was acting like a fool.”

“He admitted to what he did,” said his attorney Ashley Siegel Monday. “This was done out of stupidity and curiousity,” said Siegel, adding that her client did not “maliciously” commit the crime. “He was inebriated.”

Siegel said her client suffers from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which causes “impulse control” issues.

Oceana County Prosecutor Joseph Bizon said some items were stolen from the shed.

Springstead gave Phillips credit for 77 days served in jail.

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