By Cole Waterman
mlive.com
BAY CITY, Mich. — This spring, a paroled bank robber was allegedly recorded smashing his way into the Bay County Law Enforcement Center. Since then, he’s racked up new charges after allegedly assaulting a fellow inmate and a corrections officer.
Police allege 38-year-old Shane W. Gillette broke into their headquarters at 503 Third St. the afternoon of May 12. Officers and sheriff’s deputies entered the lobby and arrested Gillette.
The following afternoon, Gillette was inside a cell with several other inmates. Cameras recorded Gillette approach a 40-year-old inmate seated on a bench and begin punching him in his face, police reports state.
The other inmate turned away as Gillette allegedly continued punching him. Deputies estimated Gillette hit the other inmate 16 times, reports state.
The victim told deputies he hadn’t said or done anything to Gillette to warrant the attack. Likewise, Gillette hadn’t said anything to him before he launched the assault, his victim said.
The victim added he resisted the urge to fight back as he didn’t want to face another charge himself. He sustained a cut near his left eye that required him to be taken to McLaren Bay Region hospital for stitches, reports state.
Another inmate who witnessed the fracas said Gillette stood over the other man and “asked him if he was ready” then started pummeling him. Another said Gillette “jumped up, yelled ‘damn you’ and started punching him,” reports state.
Gillette told deputies the 40-year-old inmate had called him a sex offender, pedophile, and meth head.
“I figured I had the right to show him who’s boss,” Gillette told deputies, according to their reports.
The next day, Gillette was arraigned in Bay County District Court on felony charges of malicious destruction of fire or police department property and assault of a jail employee related to the May 12 break-in of the Law Enforcement Center.
Still in jail on June 15, Gillette allegedly assaulted a corrections officer who was assisting the jail nurse dispense medications. Gillette asked the CO for a transfer to another cellblock and the CO replied he could submit a written request to the administrator.
Gillette then asked the officer if he’d like some water and proceeded to toss a bowl of water on him, reports state. Gillette allegedly grabbed the CO by his throat and punched him in his face, knocking his eyeglasses away. The officer was unable to see as Gillette punched him three to four more times before another CO tackled the assailant to the ground, reports state.
The officer was left bleeding from his nose and face, suffered a cut under his left eye and large bump under his right eye. Gillette declined to speak when questioned by deputies.
Stemming from the two incidents, Gillette is now charged with assaulting a jail employee and aggravated assault.
The jail break-in
Police at about 4:45 p.m. on May 12 responded to the Bay County Personnel Department on the third floor of the Bay County Building, 515 Center Ave., for an assault complaint. A female employee had called 911 to report Gillette was threatening the department’s director and trying to kiss her.
Gillette had left for nearby Battery Park before officers arrived. As they questioned witnesses, officers looked out a window and saw Gillette lying down on a park bench, according to their reports in court files.
The personnel director told police Gillette had visited the office to fill out an employment application. Gillette started asking strange questions of the staff and told them he would call the sheriff’s office on them.
“You just want to have babies with me,” Gillette allegedly told the personnel director. Gillette then walked up to her and leaned down like he was trying to kiss her, she told police.
“I pushed him back and he kept coming towards me,” she said. “Shane told me that he was going to throw me over the counter.”
The director repeatedly told Gillette to leave and that she would call police. Gillette dared her to do so and continued approaching her, prompting her to again shove him away, reports state.
After leaving the County Building, Gillette allegedly walked through the parking lot of the U.S. Post Office, 1000 Washington Ave. , where he yanked a side mirror of a work truck and another off an employee’s personal Kia Cadenza, police reports state. The postal truck’s damage was assessed at $100, while the damage to the Kia was estimated at $620.
A few minutes after 5 p.m., Gillette was in front of the Law Enforcement Center, which had closed to the public a half hour earlier. He picked up the red emergency telephone located on the exterior east wall and a dispatcher answered.
“(Expletive) you, get a cop out here right now!” Gillette allegedly screamed at the dispatcher before hanging up, reports state.
The building’s lobby is accessed through two sets of doors. The outer set remains unlocked while the inner set is locked at 4:30 p.m.
Gillette allegedly entered the vestibule and began punching, kicking, and throwing himself against the locked glass doors, as recorded by surveillance cameras. With the glass pane’s integrity weakened by every blow, it eventually shattered enough for Gillette to reach around the metal doorframe. He used both hands to pull the frame from its hinges until it fell to the ground, further breaking the glass, the video shows.
Gillette allegedly walked over the shattered glass into the lobby and approached the desks of the Bay City Department of Public Safety and the Bay County Sheriff’s Office. He briefly spoke with officers on the city’s side before gesturing with his hands as though he had a rifle with which he would shoot them, the video shows.
“Shane was yelling, acting in an elevated manic state of mind, and sweating profusely,” a corporal wrote. “Shane refused to comply (with officers’ orders) and informed officers to come out from beyond the windows.”
Gillette removed the backpack, two jackets, baseball hat, and necklace he was wearing and tossed them to the ground. He allegedly made more “finger gun” motions as a deputy and city lieutenant entered through the broken lobby doors and arrested him, the video shows.
Police walked the handcuffed Gillette to the jail, at which point he said he would assault any officer he could and spat on a corrections officer, reports state.
Police determined the cost of the doors’ damage was around $30,000, Sheriff Troy R. Cunningham has said.
Gillette’s trial on the charges stemming from the break-in is set to begin Tuesday, Aug. 19, before Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran, with a backup date of Sept. 16.
Gillette was on parole on a bank robbery conviction at the time of the May 12 incident.
Gillette in January 2021 went through the drive-thru window of Fifth Third Bank, 3870 State Street Road, and passed a threatening note to a teller in a Taco Bell bag. The teller returned the bag to Gillette with $5,180 inside.
Gillette drove off but was pulled over the next day by Pennsylvania State Police as he drove 88 mph through Allegheny County. The Pontiac Grand Am he drove did not have a license plate.
Gillette told the Pennsylvania troopers he was moving to North Carolina, then said he robbed a bank in Bay City. He produced a bag containing cash bearing Fifth Third Bank bands.
Meanwhile, a pair of Williams Township siblings, ages 12 and 14, were outside exercising when they found a potato chip bag containing $1,000 in cash from the robbery. The siblings shared their discovery with their parents, who reported the cash to deputies.
Extradited to Bay County, Gillette in July 2021 pleaded guilty to bank robbery, a life offense. Judge Sheeran in September 2021 sentenced Gillette to two to 15 years in prison, with credit for 233 days already served.
The Michigan Department of Corrections paroled Gillette on June 18, 2024. He was to remain on parole for two years, though a violation could result in him being returned to prison to serve the remainder of his time on the bank robbery conviction.
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