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Wrong-way crash witness appears in court on breaking and entering charges

A man who witnessed a crash and helped the victims on Friday appeared in court Monday on two felony charges.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — On Friday, 13 ON YOUR SIDE brought you a story of three people who were injured in a wrong-way crash on US-131 and a man who police say helped pull survivors out of the wreckage.

Marty Oaks spoke with 13 ON YOUR SIDE about helping the crash survivors on Friday. Now, he is appearing in court on breaking and entering charges.

Oaks is charged with breaking into a Grand Rapids business just hours after our interview with him.

Oaks was arraigned on two felony charges in the 61st District Court on Monday after allegedly stealing what the owner of the business says was thousands of dollars in merchandise.

The incident happened early Saturday morning at Shakedown Street on Leonard Street in Grand Rapids. The judge said Oaks stole items like vape pens, pipes and other miscellaneous items during the break-in.

Oaks has a criminal past and was supposed to be sentenced on March 29 on another breaking and entering case from last year, according to the judge.

Lisa Grewe-Boland, Oaks' mother, said she was the one who turned Oaks into police. She said Oaks suffers from drug addiction and had relapsed on the night of the break-in.

After receiving a call from Oaks' girlfriend, Grewe-Boland went to their home and found items that did not belong to them. She drove to the business that was broken into and alerted police that Oaks had stolen the merchandise.

"And I told them that it was my son. And I described everything that he had, and I described that he had a relapse, and that everything was where they live," she said.

Grewe-Boland said Oaks wasn't aware that he had stolen anything until he was arrested.

"It was hard for me to go in and say that my son did this, knowing that he has an addiction and that he just needs help," she said. "And there's just so many people out there that need help."

During the interview with 13 ON YOUR SIDE on Friday on the wrong-way crash he witnessed, Oaks mentioned that nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes.

"He's got a good heart," Grewe-Boland said.

In court on Monday, Oaks says he plans to hire an attorney to defend himself. His bond was set at $25,000.

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