May 6, 2004

On May 3, the Honorable Dennis Murphy of the 46th Circuit Court sentenced Johnathan Wenner to serve three months in jail. Mr. Wenner, a 21-year old Gaylord man, entered a plea of guilty to the charge of Larceny from a Building. In addition to three months incarceration, Judge Murphy placed Mr. Wenner on two years probation and ordered him to pay restitution of $1308.93 for stolen property not recovered.

The Department of Environmental Quality Office of Criminal Investigations investigated the case. Mr. Kevin Hesselink of the Otsego County Prosecutor’s Office authorized the felony charge against Mr. Wenner.

Mr. Wenner obtained access to the DEQ Gaylord Field Office on two weekends in October 2003 while employed by a carpet cleaning company. The investigation revealed he stole four digital cameras, two cell phones, and a pocket PC computer from the office. The items total value equaled $3080.91. The OCI recovered much of the stolen property from Mr. Wenner, while the carpet cleaning company’s insurance carrier will compensate the DEQ for the value of the un-recovered property.

Editor’s note: DEQ news releases are available on the department’s Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

Revised May 6, 2004 by Pat Watson