GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WZZM) – A woman who took a loaded 2014 Ford Expedition on "test drive'' to Florida, then claimed Gospel singer Marvin Sapp bought it for her, was called delusional Thursday before being sentenced to jail.
"The Rev. Sapp doesn't know you. You're a smart woman; you're just under a delusion,'' Kent County Circuit Court Judge Dennis Leiber told Gladys Annette Gaines. "That delusion has cost you your freedom.''
With that, Leiber sentenced Gaines to six months in the Kent County Jail and reiterated a standing order that she have no contact with the Grammy award-winning musician.
The bizarre odyssey from Kentwood to Avon Park, Fla. got underway Jan. 2 – just two days before Gaines' 46th birthday. With her two children in tow, she arrived at Fox Ford, 3560 28th St. SE at 4 p.m. and asked to take the black extended-length Ford Expedition on a test drive.
She headed out on the test drive, leaving her kids, ages 10 and 13, behind. Gaines returned a short time later and asked the salesman if she could take another test drive with her two children, according to court records.
Told it was OK, Gaines left with her kids and didn't return. Still on Christmas break, they accompanied their mother on the 1,100 mile trip.
When police in Florida caught up with her, Gaines said Sapp had purchased the vehicle for her "and it was all a misunderstanding.''
Gaines was returned to Michigan and charged in July with unlawful driving away an automobile, a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.
During an earlier appearance in Kentwood District Court, Gaines was ordered to have no contact with Sapp, be it in person, by telephone or social media. Sapp is pastor at Lighthouse Full Life Center Church, 600 Burton St. SE.
During Thursday's sentencing, Leiber told Gaines that he is recommending she receive mental health treatment while locked up, if it is available.
