March 17 court appearance set



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"Upper Peninsula DNR News"



March 4, 2025

*Contact*: Eugene “Skip” Hagy <[email protected]>, 906-293-5131, Ext. 4100

*Campground pay pipe thief headed to circuit court in Luce County*

An Eaton County man is scheduled for an upcoming circuit court appearance in Luce County on 13 charges, including a dozen felonies, stemming from an investigation into state forest campground pay pipe thefts that occurred over the past two years.

Justyn Mark Spitzley, 36, of Sunfield was arrested on a 13-count warrant and arraigned Feb. 14 in Luce County District Court. He is charged with felony larceny of $1,000 to $20,000, 11 felony counts of breaking and entering a coin-operated device and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended or revoked license.

“Over the past two camping seasons, Michigan state parks personnel discovered that several of the remote Luce County state forest campgrounds were coming up way short on campsite fees, totaling several thousands of dollars,” said Michigan Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Cole VanOosten. “District 2 (eastern Upper Peninsula) conservation officers, along with DNR Special Investigative Unit detectives, initiated surveillance techniques to identify and apprehend the suspect.”

The surveillance effort, with assistance of Michigan State Police troopers, Sault Ste. Marie Police officers and the Mackinac Bridge Authority, resulted in Spitzley being identified as the suspected thief.

Teams continued their surveillance.

On Oct. 19-20, 2024, Spitzley broke into several state forest campground pay pipes. He was arrested by surveillance team members and found to be in possession of a large amount of stolen cash, a burglary tool and other evidence of the crimes.

Conservation officers said Spitzley confessed to the pay pipe theft crimes. He was lodged in the Luce County Jail in Newberry on unrelated outstanding felony warrants for non-payment of child support in Ionia County and shoplifting (retail fraud) in Eaton County.  

Spitzley is scheduled to appear next for a pretrial hearing in circuit court March 17 in Luce County. He is being held on a $10,000 bond.

For more information on Michigan DNR conservation officers, visit Michigan.gov/ConservationOfficers [ [link removed] ]


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