CASSOPOLIS — Two area residents were sentenced to a year in the county jail Friday in Cass County Circuit Court.

Annis

A Mishawaka woman was sentenced to a year in jail after being found with both methamphetamine and heroin. Sara Nicole Annis, 37, of Mishawaka, pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and possession of narcotics/cocaine-heroin and was sentenced to concurrent terms of 365 days in jail with credit for 101 days served. She must pay a total of $2,116 in fines and costs.

      The incident occurred June 19, 2022 near Edwardsburg. Annis also faces charges in Indiana and her jail term can be served in any correctional institution.

      Cass County Circuit Court Judge Mark Herman noted that Annis pled to the two charges on April 11, 2023, then failed to complete a presentence investigation and then absconded before a September, 2023 sentencing date. She was arrested in January, 2024 in Indiana.

      The judge said that while the prosecutor and defense attorney had agreed that she would serve no additional jail, he was not bound by that agreement since she had absconded. “You not only absconded, but you committed new crimes in Indiana,” he said.

      “You wrote me a letter in January about how important your children are to you,” the judge told Annis. “If they are so important to you, why did you commit new crimes … Don’t give me a song and dance about how important they are to you. By your actions, you’ve shown your children that drugs are more important to you than they are.”

      An Indiana resident was given a year in jail for possession of methamphetamine.

Kaminski

Benjamin Mack Kaminski, 37, now of Michigan City, pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and was sentenced to 365 days in jail with credit for 45 days served. He must pay $1,608 in fines and costs and $3,253.43 in restitution.

      The incident occurred Aug. 30, 2024 inside a mobile home on Stateline Road near Edwardsburg. Police were called to reports of shots fired and found Kaminski. He was found with drugs plus guns and admitted he had been using drugs at the time of the incident.

      Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz said that while it was good that Kaminski didn’t have prior criminal convictions, it was a tragedy that his first foray into the criminal justice system was with a felony offense.

      “These cases can be very difficult,” defense attorney Robert Drake said. “He had a good job, his life was normal, healthy and positive and along came drugs … A year in jail is no laughing matter, he will have to start his life all over again. He will come out with no job and no home. This is a tragic interruption in his life and it certainly could have been much worse.“

      Judge Herman called it a “tough lesson to learn” but noted that it could have been much worse if Kaminski had hit someone when he was shooting the gun. He added that Kaminski could have faced a prison term on weapon charges without the plea agreement.

      “We see it every week and it always eventually ends up the same way,” the judge said. “Think about how meth destroyed your life before you ever use again. You have to think about what it’s done to your life, it destroys lives every day.”

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