By Judy Reed
A member of the Cedar Springs City Council has been charged with theft of property from the building he operated a former business from.
Raymond Huckleberry
According to Cedar Springs Police Chief Roger Parent, Sgt. Ed Good took a larceny complaint on August 31 involving theft from the upstairs level of Stein Brothers Pizza, 77 S. Main Street. Former owner Raymond Michael Huckleberry, 30, of Cedar Springs, had closed the pizza place earlier in the summer due to the economy. Huckleberry was buying the business on a land contract, and leasing the building, and told the Post last summer he was working on an amicable agreement to return the business to the previous owners. That agreement, however, fell through.
Parent said that because their initial investigation identified Huckleberry, a Cedar Springs City Council member, as a possible suspect, the case was turned over to the Kent County Sheriff Department’s detective bureau.
“Having another police agency take over an investigation to avoid any conflict of interest is a common practice,” explained Parent.
Detective E.J. Johnson conducted an investigation, and made an appointment to meet with Huckleberry. On November 16, the case was submitted for review by the Kent County prosecutor’s office, and a warrant was issued for one count of larceny over $200, but less than $1,000. Huckleberry cooperated with detectives throughout the investigation and voluntarily turned himself into authorities on November 18. He was booked into the Kent County Correctional Facility and later bonded out.
Huckleberry was arraigned on December 2 in 63rd District Court and pled not guilty. He had a pretrial conference on Tuesday, December 22, and is scheduled for another pretrial conference on January 14 at 10:45 a.m. A jury pick is set for January 19.
Huckleberry has been active in the community since childhood, including serving on the DDA board as a small business owner, was past president of the Cedar Springs Rotary Club, and is a member of the Planning Commission, and the City Council. While he would like to explain his side of the case, he said he couldn’t talk about it right now.
“My reputation in this community speaks for itself. I cannot discuss details of the case right now, but when I can, I will gladly share,” he told the Post Wednesday.
I am afraid Ray is not too honest about what was going on. **edit** It is sad for Ray and his family, I hope he stops fooling himself for his kid’s sake.
I think Ray’s reputation speaks for itself. The fact that Stein’s pressed charges is clearly a result of personal vindictiveness. Ray is a good father, neighbor and I for one am glad that he sits on the city council.
Homebrew you obviously do not know Mr. Huckleberry. Mr Huckleberry poorly ran his restaurants. The number of health safety violations says a lot with as many as 6 in one visit. The Post also protects the bizarre sign he posted outside his restaurant that said, “Closed due to the Bush/Hoover Economy.” A similar message was on the voice mail for the restaurant.
Doug Stein has been a friend to Ray and his family since Ray was a little boy. There was never any effort on Ray’s part to work…
Well you miss a couple of things Paix. Just because someone runs a business poorly does not make them a bad person. He deserves credit for trying. I have known Ray for a number of years and I and have had multiple successful retail business for many years.
So yes his business failed. Happened to Donald Trump a time or two as well. But I am not going to engage in a flame war with you, nor defend Rays skill as a business person. But you wrongly impugned his character and his ability to be a…
I know Ray too, and the way he ran his business is at issue. If Ray’s reputation is impugned it is by the truth.
I am fairly sure no one is going to believe George Bush or Herbert Hoover had anything to do with this failure.
Your comments about the Stein’s was pure bull and wrong. I spoke with Doug Stein as this was going on. He was classy enough NOT to discuss the details of this crime, but he instead spoke of his disappointment. After the store closed Ray would not return his calls…
Yes, I do agree that despite having little good to say about Bush, or Obama, neither caused the closing of the pizza place. Frankly there are only a handful of businesses in Cedar Springs managed properly. Whether this was a case of genuine wrong doing, or just getting in way over his head. I think time will tell. That said I think Ray is a good father and that has little to do with being a good/poor business person.
Well with Ray it is a little of both, I think. He never really did much with the real estate, he was mainly a pretend Realtor. Then he got the first store. I won’t go into details, but he was making some foolish decisions and anytime anyone said anything he would act like he could not make mistakes. He undermined his managers and partied with them and the partying has been a theme.
I’ve never met a good business owner who thought he was so good that he did not need to listen to his people…
…and the Bush/Hoover thing just shows the hate in this guy’s heart. It shows he does not take any responsibility.
In the end this will hurt his family. I do pray he wakes up. I don’t want to see him jailed, but a guilty verdict may be what he needs to wake up.
Any chance the Post will update us on this story?
If and when we hear anything more we have have an update.
There was jury pick….Maybe if you go visit the Court you will know.
The jury pick was rescheduled for March.
Thanks Admin….It would appear no plea deal was made…Is the guy innocent, or just cannot admit guilt? Stayed tuned to the Cedar Springs Post for more details….
Why would Ray’s character as a father or a business person have anything do with what happened. He stole from on the property. So, because he’s a prominent member of the community and has done so many good things over his life, he should be excused from breaking the law? I think not.
I could care less if he’s the Mayor, or the bum living on the street downtown. If he did the crime, he should do the time, as if it were you or I who did it
What good things has he done????????