Man sentenced to jail for car theft.

#OceanaCountyCrime

By Allison Scarbrough, Editor.

HART — A 31-year-old Minneapolis-area, Minnesota man was sentenced to 108 days in jail with credit for 108 days served in 27th Circuit Court Monday, Oct. 22, for a conviction of unlawful driving away of an automobile or car theft.

Chad Thomas Shelso pleaded guilty last August.

Shelso was arrested last July after stealing a vehicle in the Village of Pentwater. The vehicle’s owner had lost the keys to it, said Pentwater Police Chief Laude Hartrum.

A misdemeanor of defrauding an innkeeper was dismissed, but restitution of $85 to the Antler Bar in Pentwater was ordered. “He ran up a tab a local establishment and didn’t pay for it,” said Oceana County Prosecutor Joseph Bizon.

Shelso was a college student in Minnesota, said his attorney Terry Shaw. “If he’s released today, he will get on a greyhound bus in Muskegon and leave,” Shaw said. “He needs to get back and get his life in order.” Shelso has been lodged in the Oceana County Jail since July when he was arrested.

“I’m just sorry for the mistakes I made while I was here on vacation,” Shelso said to Judge Robert D. Springstead. “I want to get back to school.”

A co-defendant in the case received Holmes Youthful Trainee Act status, which is non-public. The pair were ordered to pay over $730 in restitution.

“I met him at the (Electric) Forest (Festival) and I wish I hadn’t,” Shelso said.

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