Back to prison, with 50 prior felony convictions

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - Someone who is all too familiar to police and prosecutors is going to prison after committing 50 felonies.

The record on 57-year-old Cassandra Grant shows a whooping 50 prior felony convictions. Prosecutors say this is the epitome of a career criminal.

"I was shocked, I seriously thought it was a typo," said Assistant Prosecutor Stuart Fenton. "Usually someone has three or four prior felony convictions, five, six, seven, eight, but I've never seen anywhere close to this many prior convictions."

Grant's crimes have not been violent onces, but ones that cheat out banks, stores and individuals.

"Everything under the sun when it comes to fraud," said Fenton, speaking of Grant's prior convictions. "Uttering and publishing, forgery, larceny, grand theft, no account checks."

Grant has been in and out of jail and prison, and on and off probation for most of her adult life.

This week, she was sentenced after pleading guilty to passing bad checks at a Kohl's department store.

You would think someone with more than fifty felonies would automatically be sent away for a long time, but sentencing guidelines this time around suggested a maximum sentence of a little over two years.

"They are rarely, if ever, rehabbed," said Fenton. "They are career fraud artists basically, yet the legislature doesn't recognize that in sentencing guidelines."

In this case, Judge Pamela Lightvoet decided to exceed the sentencing guidelines and sentenced Grant to a minimum of eight years.