Clerk gets probation in Super 8 case
The former motel clerk who was in cahoots with a man who he told police robbed him at gunpoint has several years of jail hanging over his head after his sentencing Monday, according to court documents.
James Mikeal Smelley II, 22, of Mount Pleasant pleaded guilty last month in Isabella County Circuit Court as a habitual offender for his role in a Sept. 6. sham robbery at the Super 8 Motel, 2323 S. Mission St.
Smelley plead guilty to one count of false report of a felony and one count of larceny between $200 and $1,000. Prosecutors dropped a second false report and a misdemeanor embezzlement charge.
Isabella Trial Court Judge Mark Duthie sentenced Smelley to one year in jail with 45 days credit and five years of probation.
He was also sentenced to one year and 167 days in jail for violating his probation on a 2007 conviction for selling marijuana. Smelley can avoid the jail sentences by not violating the terms of his probation again.
He must undergo a cognitive change program under the Michigan Public Act 511 of 1988, which allows non-violent offenders to earn early release time for good behavior.
Smelley was ordered to pay $500 restitution to the Super 8 Motel, which is owned by LaBelle Management. He received $3,433 in total fines and costs.
He must also serve 104 hours of community service and testify against his co-defendant, Donald Ladon Jones, 25, of Detroit, the alleged gunman in the staged robbery.
Smelley reported that a black man with a muscular build and a hooded sweatshirt held him up at gunpoint at 3:30 a.m. on Sept. 6. He told police the man fled southbound on foot with the money from the front desk drawer and the surveillance tape.
Acting on tips from residents, Mount Pleasant Police detectives determined that Smelley had lied in his police report and that he and Jones were acting together.
Super 8 management fired Smelley immediately after the robbery. He turned himself into police and was arraigned Sept. 29.
MPPD Public Information Officer Dave Sabuda said the Isabella County Prosecutor's office has not issued charges yet on Jones, a convicted felon on parole from state prison.
"I don't know why," he said. "That doesn't rule out charges."
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