The Sun and News
Your Hometown Newspaper Serving Middleville and Caledonia Areas
No. 11/ March 16, 2024 Published by J-Ad Graphics, Inc. • 1351 N. M-43 Highway, Hastings, MI 49058 146th year
Sheriff asked to hand over voter fraud investigation
files to special prosecutor, says he won’t
Jayson Bussa
Editor
When a special prosecutor
deemed there was insufficient
evidence to charge Barry
County Sheriff Dar Leaf with
a crime in August, Leaf told
the Sun and News he was
likely to receive a subpoena
to testify in cases against
those who were charged.
That hunch came to frui-
tion last week when Leaf
received a subpoena — one
that he is fighting back
against.
Muskegon County
Prosecutor D.J. Hilson, who
is acting as a special prosecu-
tor for the state in cases
against three individuals
accused of illegally obtaining
and testing voting equip-
ment, issued a subpoena to
Leaf on on Thursday, March
7, requesting that Leaf appear
the next day and also turn
over files he has compiled
during his years-long investi-
gation into voter fraud.
One of the individuals
being charged is Stefanie
Lambert, who has served as
legal counsel for Leaf
throughout his investigation
into voter fraud, which jump-
started following the 2020
presidential election. The
subpoena Leaf received was
part of the People of
Michigan vs. Stefanie
Lambert
Former Michigan State
Representative Daire Rendon
and former Republican can-
didate for state Attorney
General Matt DePerno are
also being charged.
Cutlerville Fire Department to get
name change ahead of pending split
between Gaines and Byron townships
James Gemmell
Contributing Writer
The Cutlerville Fire
Department will get a new
name after the partnership
between Byron and Gaines
townships ends later this
year.
The Gaines Charter
Township Board on Monday
night voted 7-0 to change the
name of the Cutlerville Fire
Department to the Gaines
Charter Township Fire
Department. Township
Manager Rod Weersing said
the hope is that the name
change will take effect by
Jan. 1, 2025. That is a poten-
tial date by which the part-
nership’s dissolution might
be finalized.
The Byron Township
Board voted in July 2023 to
sever the 73-year-old contact
with Gaines in mutually
operating the Cutlerville Fire
Department. Under an inter-
governmental operating
agreement, the partnership
must begin to officially dis-
solve within one year, by
July 2024.
Gaines officials said they
were stunned last summer
when they heard that the
Byron board had voted to
end the partnership. Some
felt they were not given ade-
quate advance notice that
Byron officials were consid-
ering it. Gaines Township
Supervisor Rob DeWaard
said it was “disrespectful.
But Byron Township
Supervisor Donald (Amos)
Tillema said his township
wants to have its own fire
station in Cutlerville because
Byron is one of the fast-
- Caledonia plans open house for
proposed rental inspection program - New addition to Yankee Springs
Township Hall already damaged - Prep work begins at site of Pine
Rest Pediatric Center - YS board bans commercial short-
term rentals in residential areas - TK grad Vanstee tabbed as GLIAC’s
top sub
IN THIS ISSUE...IN THIS ISSUE...
See FIRE DEPARTMENT, page 3
See LEAF, page 3
Vehicles broken into,
stolen in Middleville
crime spree
Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
At least 30 vehicles in
four residential neighbor-
hoods in the village of
Middleville were broken
into, with four vehicles
being stolen, during a
crime spree Monday night,
according to the
Middleville unit of the
Barry County Sheriff’s
Office.
That has one local resi-
dent calling for a greater
police presence in the vil-
lage.
Sgt. Scott Ware of the
sheriff’s office Middleville
unit told the Village
Council Tuesday night
that the incidents occurred
in the Seneca Ridge,
Rolling Oaks, Towne
Center and Misty Ridge
subdivisions.
“One car was recovered
close by home, due to it
being a non-drivable vehi-
cle, yet they managed to
get it started down the
road a little bit ... One
vehicle was recovered
after a pursuit,” Ware said.
Five subjects were iden-
tified as a result of the
pursuit but no arrests have
been made so far. They are
from outside the
Middleville area, and are
said to be part of “a much
bigger crime ring,” Ware
said.
“The investigation is
ongoing and we will be
sending everything to the
Prosecutor’s Office next
week for review,” Ware
wrote in an email to the
Sun and News.
Ware said that one dep-
uty works in the village at
night, and was on patrol in
a different part of the vil-
lage from the subdivisions
when the incidents
occurred.
“These guys were in
and out in all those neigh-
borhoods in less than an
hour ... If it wasn’t for
somebody waking up and
hearing them steal their
car, they would have been
long gone, the pursuit
would never have hap-
pened and we never would
have caught somebody.
When a neighborhood can
help, it helps us,” Ware
said.
The department
received video footage
that was captured by at
least 10 Ring home securi-
ty cameras, helping inves-
tigators identify those
responsible, Ware said.
Ware noted a common
theme with the break-ins.
Cutlerville/Dutton Fire Chief Ken Van Hall (right) announces service recognition awards for two recently
retired firefighters on Monday. At left is one of them, Brett Holmes (Photo by James Gemmell)
Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf appeared in front of
the Barry County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday
morning sporting the department’s new black uni-
forms, which are a departure from the long-recog-
nized brown uniforms. (Photo by Jayson Bussa)
See CRIME, page 2
I don’t think we’ve ever had four (cars) at once
stolen, I don’t we’ve ever had this many houses
affected. Typically they hit one neighborhood,
they’re in and out. This is by far the worst I’ve
seen.”
— Scott Ware, Sergeant,
Barry County Sheriff ’s Office