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Paul Madison Phillips broke into several local businesses
By Allison Scarbrough, News Editor
HART — A 41-year-old man currently incarcerated in prison received a concurrent prison term of two years and five months to 10 years for a conviction of breaking and entering with intent in Oceana County’s 51st Circuit Court Monday, Sept. 28.
Phillips/MDOC photo
Paul Madison Phillips pleaded guilty to the charge, Aug. 3, stemming from a Dec. 8, 2025 break-in. Phillips has seven prior felony convictions and 11 misdemeanors, said Oceana County Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Bizon.
“In this case, he and a lookout broke into Hallack Contracting (located on Polk Road in Hart) and entered a storage shed where he stole a spool of copper wire,” said Prosecutor Bizon.
Phillips, who had been recently paroled from prison, was sent back behind bars after being sentenced in Oceana County, March 23, 2026 to a minimum of one year and seven months to 10 years in prison for another conviction of breaking and entering a building with intent.
He pleaded guilty to that charge, Feb. 9, 2026 after stealing a checkbook and company credit card from Northland Castings Corporation, located on West Tyler Road in Hart, Dec. 8, 2025, said Bizon.
Phillips was paroled Aug. 26, 2025 after serving a sentence of 13 months to 10 years in prison March 4, 2024 for a conviction of breaking and entering a building with intent. He stole a truck from Van Andel Propane Company, Inc. on South 192nd Avenue in Newfield Township that was later located in Hesperia.
His sentence ran concurrently to a separate case for a conviction of methamphetamine possession. Phillips was ordered to 10 months incarceration, court records state.
Phillips was sentenced in 2013 to one year and 11 months to five years in prison for a Manistee County conviction of breaking and entering with intent, according to Michigan Department of Corrections records.
He has previous convictions in Manistee in 2011 for larceny in building and in Oceana County in 2020 for breaking and entering with intent.
In his most recent case, a misdemeanor count of larceny $200-$1,000 was dismissed.
Phillips is currently incarcerated in the Charles E. Egeler Reception and Guidance Center in Jackson, Mich. His earliest release date is April 6, 2031, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections records.
The lookout in the most recent break-in at Hallack’s, 33-year-old Samantha Jean Fotis, cooperated with the investigation and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, said the prosecutor. Fotis was sentenced last month to six days in jail and $650 in fines, costs and restitution for a conviction of larceny $200-$1,000.
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