Sturgis man sentenced to 14 to 50 years for October, 2021 armed robbery
BRANCH COUNTY — A 26-year-old Sturgis man will not be eligible for parole until 2037 after Circuit Judge Bill O’Grady sentenced him to 14 to 50 years in prison on robbery charges Thursday.
Dylan Brand pleaded guilty in Branch County in February to armed robbery. A charge of use of a firearm during a felony was dismissed in the plea bargain.
His sentence runs concurrent to a St. Joseph County sentence he received after an October trial for fleeing the scene of the armed robbery. There was a two-year minimum mandatory sentence for using a firearm in the commission of a felony followed by a three to 15-year sentence on charges of fleeing or resisting arrest and fleeing police as a third time habitual offender.
Brand fled the robbery at a Diamond Drive home near Bronson on October 22, 2021 and drove toward Sturgis.
Investigators said Brand was high on methamphetamine when held a loaded handgun to the head of a 69-year-old woman and demanded she open a safe. When she said there was no safe, Brand searched the house before taking her purse and fleeing, according to court records.
There was an unfounded rumor a home in the area hosted large stake poker games and kept cash in a safe, police determined in their investigation.
A short time later, a Sturgis City Police sergeant chased Brand’s silver BMW on U.S. 12 but broke off the pursuit in heavy traffic with sidewalks filled with school kids.
Another Sturgis officer found the SUV crashed into another vehicle on Cottage Street south of U.S. 12. Witnesses said Brand and a woman with him ran before police apprehended them.
A Michigan State Police dog located the handgun. Officers found the stolen wallet in the crashed BMW.
prior story Sturgis man arrested in October armed robbery
Paul Gipson, Brand's lawyer, said Brand has a severe addiction to methamphetamine and requested treatment for him at sentencing.
Branch County prosecutor Zack Stempien argued for the maximum sentence under Michigan guidelines because of the threat to society for holding the loaded firearm to his victim’s head.
Stempien dismissed first-degree home invasion and commission of a felony with use of a firearm charges, along with habitual offender status, due to minimal impact on the final sentence.
Brand received credit for 277 days already served.
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The woman in the car with Brand, Taja Rogers, 28, of Sturgis, was sentenced on Sept. 9 to two to 10 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to possessing meth.
--Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DReidTDR
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Sturgis man sentenced to 14 to 50 years for October, 2021 armed robbery
