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Alpena judge: GED could shorten jail stay

ALPENA — A downstate man who has caused trouble in Alpena needs to go back south, a defense attorney said in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court on Monday.

Gregg Eilber, 29, has a “bad habit” of gravitating toward people who don’t care about his well-being, said defense attorney Bill Pfeifer, speaking at Eilber’s sentencing for stealing from a vehicle and a building this spring.

Eilber pleaded guilty to those charges last month.

Pfeifer assured Judge Ed Black that Eilber has housing waiting for him in Huron County, and said Alpena County Prosecutor Cynthia Muszynski urged Eilber to return there at a previous hearing during one of numerous encounters Eilber has had with the police and courts in the past few years.

“His stay here has not been very productive,” Pfeifer said.

Eilber told Black he has tired of being penniless and stealing from his friends and wants to attend residential treatment to try to kick his drug addiction.

“It’s time for me to grow up,” he said. “I want to be an adult.”

Muszynski reminded Black that many of those who appear in police reports along with Eilber are significantly younger than the defendant.

Eilber has spent enough time in the local jail that he could have proven his stated intent to better himself by pursuing his GED certificate but has not done so, Muszynski said.

Black sentenced Eilber to 12 months’ incarceration.

If, after nine months, Eilber has earned his GED certificate, he can be released to residential treatment, Black said.

“If you want it, that’s your goal,” he told Eilber.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.

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