‘A danger to the community’

Jul 10, 2023

By Elisabeth Waldon | on February 27, 2023

STANTON — A Montcalm County man with a lengthy history of violence and sex crimes — including shooting at cars and having sex with women and underage girls without informing them that he was HIV positive — is back in court, this time charged with arson and aggravated stalking.

Gerald Campbell Jr. (2022 mugshot)

Gerald Ray Campbell Jr., 46, appeared in Montcalm County District Court on Wednesday for a preliminary examination in the stalking case. Before the prelim even began, he was arraigned on additional charges of second-degree arson related to a local house fire more than a year ago.

Campbell's troubles date back to tragic issues beyond his own control — when he was just an infant, he became a ward of the state due to abuse and neglect from his own guardians. By the time Campbell was 17 years old, he was convicted of assault with intent to murder. He has been in and out of prison and the local court system ever since.

SHOOTING AT CARS

Gerald Campbell Jr. — better known as "Jerry" when he was 17 years old — was sentenced to from 12 to 25 years in prison in December 1993 for shooting at multiple vehicles on Stanton Road in Crystal Township that prior August. A 59-year-old Fenwick man suffered a severe shoulder injury in the apparently random shootings.

"It doesn't do me any great pleasure as a judge to have to send a 17-year-old to prison," then-Montcalm County Circuit Court Judge Charles Simon Jr. told Campbell, according to Daily News archives. "But if anyone ever had to go to prison, it should be you."

According to Campbell's then-defense attorney Arney Mustonen, the young man had a difficult life leading up to that point. Campbell became a ward of the state juvenile system when he was less than 1 year old due to abuse and neglect. Mustonen said the state gave Campbell prescription drugs instead of attempting to deal with his real issues.

Campbell said he was high on marijuana and LSD the day he shot at vehicles. He pleaded no contest to assault with intent to commit murder and he apologized at his sentencing.

"I’m sorry for what I did and for the people (affected)," Campbell said. "I put their lives in jeopardy."

After Campbell's sentencing, his aunt and uncle spoke with the Daily News. His aunt said what Campbell did was wrong, but along with "justice," the youth also needs "love and mercy and help."

UNSAFE SEX

Campbell was released from prison in September 2007 after serving nearly 14 years. He was soon in trouble again.

Gerald Campbell Jr. (2008 mugshot)

Now 32 years old, Campbell was arrested and charged in September 2008 with having sex with two women — one from Carson City and one from Hubbardston — without telling them that he was HIV positive.

The Carson City woman told police she has lupus and so she specifically asked Campbell if he had any sexually transmitted diseases because she was worried about her health.

"He told me he was tested when he first entered prison, every year he was in prison and when he left prison and he said he didn't have HIV or AIDS," the woman said. "He even joked about how clean and virginal he was."

The couple then engaged in unprotected sex multiple times. The woman later received a registered letter from a local health department advising her that she was at risk for AIDS.

The Hubbardston woman said she had known Campbell for about 30 years and they began a sexual relationship shortly after he was released from prison. She too asked Campbell if he had any STDs because she was concerned about the numerous tattoos he had gotten in prison, but she said he didn't answer.

After the Daily News wrote a story in September 2008 about Campbell's charges related to having unprotected sex, two underage girls came forward — one from Belding and one from Crystal — to tell police they also had sex with Campbell without knowing he was HIV positive.

While his sex case was pending in court, Campbell was sentenced in November 2008 to 74 days in jail for malicious destruction of a building that past July in which he kicked in the door of his girlfriend's home in Carson City after she broke up with him.

Campbell pleaded no contest in December 2008 to two counts of AIDS sexual penetration with an uninformed partner and two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

While awaiting his sentencing, Campbell ended up testifying for the prosecution in two unrelated court cases.

JAIL FLOOD

While awaiting sentencing, Campbell was placed in a Montcalm County Jail cell with Wesley Blair, 29, of Orleans who was charged with assault with intent to murder after Blair allegedly attacked his ex-girlfriend and cut her throat with a knife in Greenville, according to Daily News archives.

According to testimony from Campbell, while the two men were in their cell in the early morning hours of Dec. 17, 2008, Blair asked Campbell if he wanted to see "something funny." Blair then allegedly climbed onto the sink and toilet and used a rubber shoe to beat on the showerhead sprinkler.

"There was water everywhere," Campbell testified. "By the time the guards opened the door the water was halfway up to my knees."

According to testimony from then-Jail Administrator Mark Sabin, 3,000 to 4,000 gallons of water flooded a large portion of the jail. Sabin said 350 to 500 gallons of water came out of the sprinkler before it was shut off.

Sandbags had to be placed against doors to prevent more flooding and inmates were evacuated to holding cells. The Stanton Fire Department responded to the messy scene to assist.

HAUNTED MILL ARSON

One of Greenville's most-talked about crimes went to trial in January 2009.

Jim Westra, 79, was charged with a dozen counts of arson related to a September 2003 fire that destroyed his well-known business, the Haunted Mill in Greenville. Police testified at trial that Westra intentionally committed arson to obtain insurance money so he could retire in Panama. Westra received about $300,000 in insurance money after the blaze.

Campbell testified in the arson trial against Westra, saying he was sharing what he knew because his conscience was bothering him.

Campbell testified that he had shared a cell with Kyle Jones, 25, of Greenville who bragged about burning down the Haunted Mill and getting a plea deal for his testimony against Westra (Jones pleaded guilty in 2008 to arson and he also testified against Westra at trial in 2009).

Campbell also shared a cell with Westra and testified that Westra offered him $100 to testify that Jones was lying.

Westra was convicted by a jury and was sentenced in March 2009 to from four and a half to 20 years in prison. Westra died in prison 10 months into his sentence in February 2010. He was 80 years old.

‘RECKLESS DISREGARD’

In January 2009, Campbell was sent back to prison to from 10 to 15 years for having unprotected sex with the four females.

"This sentence that is to be imposed may very well be a life sentence for this young man," argued Campbell's then-defense attorney Dennis Moore.

"We’re talking about four women who are not out of the woods yet," responded then-Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Hekman. "They may still come down with this fatal disease (AIDS). Mr. Moore talks about a life sentence for his client, but he (Campbell) may have handed down four life sentences to these women — two of whom are not even adults yet."

Montcalm County Circuit Court Judge Suzanne Kreeger told Campbell that he has "a reckless disregard for the welfare of others."

"I hope that you do have a conscience and that it does eat at you because this type of behavior is criminal," Kreeger told Campbell.

‘HE ADAMENTLY LIED TO ME’

A local woman who has known Campbell since prior to his 1993 conviction met him in October 2020 after he was released from prison a second time, and the two started dating. The woman testified this past Wednesday in Montcalm County District Court in relation to aggravated stalking charges against Campbell.

The woman owned a property in Bushnell Township. She moved to Greenville in August 2021 and planned to sell the Bushnell Township property as she and Campbell had become engaged and were planning to get married in February 2022.

The woman said that while she and Campbell had a good relationship, he would become upset whenever she mentioned her late husband.

In the spring of 2021, the woman said all the decorations on her late husband's grave were destroyed at a local cemetery. Less than a week later, someone sprayed an "undercoating-type substance" all over the gravestone.

The woman said she asked Campbell about the incidents and he adamantly denied any involvement, although he told her he had visited her husband's grave before "to talk to him and get guidance."

In the the fall of 2021, the woman said someone entered her home in Bushnell Township and completely destroyed everything in her bedroom and bathroom. The rest of the home was untouched.

"My husband's motorcycle helmet was stomped on and smashed," she said. "My pajamas were ripped up. Everything in my bedroom was destroyed."

The woman said Campbell had access to the home as he was supposed to be cleaning it so she could rent the place out. She said Campbell was the one who reported the home's damage to her.

And then in December 2021, someone set the Bushnell Township house and nearby garage on fire. Both were destroyed.

The Sheridan Fire Department, Carson City Fire Department and Ronald Township Fire Department were all dispatched to the property, according to Daily News archives. Sheridan Community Fire Chief Ed Lingeman told the Daily News that both fires were considered to be suspicious.

"I didn't want to believe that Gerald had any involvement in the fire, but all evidence was leading in that direction," the woman testified on Wednesday. "He was there that morning and he adamantly lied to me that he wasn't there. He adamantly lied to me for an entire week and then he wrote me a letter and said he was there and he was sorry he lied. From there it became a trust issue. We tried to make it work, but it just didn't happen."

The woman said she broke up with Campbell in January 2022. However, she said their relationship was still good by March 2022 when they went rock hunting together on Lake Huron for his birthday.

"Everything has been pretty amicable this entire time," she said.

THREATENING MESSAGES

On Sept. 14, 2022, the woman said five people — including herself and a friend of her late husband — received a text from an unknown number. She said the text contained an image of the word "Suffer" with flickering flames and read, "(the woman's name and her late husband's name) caused this, just watch how this year turns out."

In October 2022, the woman said she received an email from Campbell stating that he was "tracking" a male friend of hers.

"He decided that someone had to die and it was going to be him," the woman said.

The woman reported the email to the Michigan State Police, who encouraged her to try to get Campbell to share more details with her. So the woman emailed Campbell back and asked how he planned to kill her friend. She said Campbell responded by saying that he had lots of guns and he also had cameras on her house and was watching her and her family.

The woman began weeping on the witness stand in court as she described how scared she was. She said Campbell was telling her she was going to die and to keep her gun ready at all times because she never knew when she might need it. She requested and obtained a personal protection order against him.

"I got to the point where I was carrying my gun with me everywhere," she said. "I slept with it under my pillow, loaded. I did not feel safe at all."

The woman said one text allegedly from Campbell contained a screenshot of a woman who had gone missing in Gaylord. The text stated, "I know where her body's at and you’ll be with her soon."

The woman said the texts stopped after Campbell was arrested in mid-November 2022. She added that police later told her the missing woman from Gaylord had been safely found.

The woman said she was diagnosed with PTSD and has been in counseling since December.

‘A DANGER TO THE COMMUNITY’

Montcalm County Prosecutor Andrea Krause was originally pursuing two charges of aggravated stalking against Campbell, but one charge was dropped after Wednesday's prelim as it wasn't proven that the text messages were from him.

However, District Court Judge Adam Eggleston ruled that there was enough evidence to bind over Campbell to Circuit Court on one charge of aggravated stalking related to the emails. Campbell also faces being convicted of being a habitual offender fourth offense which would greatly increase any future sentence.

"Clearly there's been a repeated course of conduct between the emails and the texts," Krause told the judge. "She got a PPO and he continued to send threatening stuff after that. In fact it caused her not only to feel scared and intimated — she kept a gun at the ready, and she also entered counseling because of it."

"There's absolutely no proof that my client sent the text messages," argued Campbell's defense attorney Stephanie Koorndyk from the Smulders Law Office in Newaygo. "Unfortunately for her — and I feel sorry for her because the messages were quite scary — neither she nor the the prosecutor can prove that they came from my client."

In the arson case, for which Campbell was arraigned before his stalking prelim, Krause requested the judge set a $150,000 cash or surety bond.

"All the charges seem to suggest a danger to the community, so we believe a high bond is important," Krause said.

Koorndyk argued that Campbell already has a substantial bond in the stalking case and that a higher bond isn't necessary in the arson as he can't post a cash bond anyway.

"He's not going to be able to get out," Koorndyk said.

Judge Eggleston set Campbell's bond in the arson case at $150,000, granting the prosecutor's request.