Ionia Prison Sergeant Faces 25 Felony Charges in Montcalm County

Casey Wagner held one of the most sensitive jobs at Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility: arsenal sergeant, the officer responsible for tracking, storing, and securing the prison's weapons. Investigators say he exploited that position for years, quietly moving a piece of institutional firepower at a time to a private stockpile at his Ionia Township home while neighbors filed complaint after unanswered complaint about explosions and gunfire rattling their properties.

Wagner, 33, now faces 25 felony charges in Ionia County, with a preliminary examination scheduled for May 21 after a February 20 search of his home turned into one of the most extensive weapons recoveries in the region's recent history.

The search, led by Det. Sgt. Phillip Hesche of the Ionia County Sheriff's Office with support from the Michigan State Police bomb squad, was initially focused on illegal explosives. What investigators found went considerably further. Court records document 196 firearms recovered from the property, including semiautomatic weapons illegally modified to fire as fully automatic and at least one sawed-off shotgun. Alongside the private arsenal sat homemade explosive devices, remnants of previously detonated improvised munitions, and an under-barrel grenade launcher.

The stolen institutional inventory was equally striking: riot helmets, gas masks and filters, radios, chemical agents, launchable smoke and gas munitions, a Taser X2, Taser cartridges, and a case of .40-caliber ammunition that had been shipped to Bellamy Creek. According to court records, Wagner admitted to taking Michigan Department of Corrections property "without authorization."

Ionia County Prosecutor Kyle Butler initially charged Wagner with possession of methamphetamine and felony possession of firearms following his arrest. By early April, the total charge count had climbed to 25 felonies, with additional counts connected to the stolen corrections equipment, including potential embezzlement charges. Court records described Wagner's home as being in "hoarder condition," a detail the prosecutor raised alongside concerns about Wagner's mental health in the bond hearing. Bond was set at $100,000; Wagner was released after posting it and has not yet entered a plea.

The Michigan Department of Corrections confirmed Wagner's employment at Bellamy Creek, placed him on an unpaid stop order following the arrest, and opened an internal investigation. That institutional response, however, came only after five years of neighbor complaints had gone unresolved, a timeline now drawing scrutiny toward both local authorities and MDOC's internal oversight protocols.

The case illustrates what happens when internal controls inside a corrections institution fail to keep pace with the access those institutions grant their own employees. Wagner's position gave him both the keys and the institutional cover to drain Bellamy Creek's arsenal over time. Whether the May 21 preliminary examination surfaces additional accountability questions for MDOC administrators will determine how far this case reaches beyond Wagner himself.