Michael K. Dodge
The adult son of Montgomery County Commissioner Judy Dodge has been sentenced to a Florida state prison on four felony counts.
Michael E. Dodge, 33, was sentenced by Hillsborough County Judge Gaston Fernandez on June 2 to 18 months incarceration on two counts of dealing in stolen property and two counts grand theft of a motor vehicle, according to Hillsborough County Jail officials.
Dodge is currently being held in the Hillsborough County Jail in Tampa.
Commissioner Dodge said she learned of her son’s March 1 arrest in Tampa, during a telephone call from one of his friends. The commissioner said she immediately called Vandalia Police Department, who had attempted to serve multiple felony warrants to arrest Michael on Jan. 14, while he visited his mother’s Farrell Road home. Michael Dodge fled through the rear of the house. Police do not suspect that Commissioner Dodge helped her son escape, Vandalia Police Lt. Harry Busse has said.
“Hopefully this will really straighten him around and get him on the right track,” Commissioner Dodge said. “He’s had some difficulties. I hope he’ll get through this and turn into the nice young man I always thought he could be growing up.”
According to TampaBay.com, Michael Dodge was arrested in March after he attempted to sell a stolen kayak on Craigslist.org. The owner of the kayak spotted his stolen boat online and called police.
Dodge, of 302 Harbour Place Drive, Tampa, and Jason Christopher Greene, 33, of 851 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, agreed to sell the kayak to an undercover officer. After the purchase, police arrested Dodge and Greene, and the boat owner got his kayak back.
At the time, Michael Dodge was already on probation for grand theft, according to the TampaBay.com report.
Meanwhile, authorities from three Miami Valley police agencies had been searching for Michael Dodge.
He is wanted by Beavercreek police for felony grant theft, forgery and receiving stolen property all related to charges filed in Fairborn Municipal Court in 2004, according to police and court records.
He also is wanted by Vandalia police for failure to appear in court on a traffic violation and by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office on a felony probation violation related to a 2004 conviction, according to court records.
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