Mitchell Horton, of Cavendish is in Windsor County Court in Woodstock on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, for a change of plea hearing. Horton plead guilty on multiple charges, including stealing an employee van outside the ER at DHMC in 2022, leading police on a chase before crashing. With him at right is his attorney AJ Ruben. Photo by Jennifer Hauck/Valley NewsThis story by John Lippman was first published in The Valley News on Nov. 14WOODSTOCK — A Cavendish man who stole a Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center shuttle van from outside the emergency room and led police on a high-speed chase down Interstate 91 pleaded guilty to a raft of charges stemming from a 2022 crime spree.Mitchell Horton, 37, was handed down a sentence of eight to 15 years in prison, with all but three years suspended, and probation of 12 years, in Windsor County Superior Court in Woodstock on Wednesday afternoon. With about 600 days credit for time already served while on pretrial detention, Horton could be out of prison in about a year.Appearing in a white prison sweatshirt and ankle chains before before Judge Heather Gray, Horton struck a penitent tone, acknowledging that he understood the consequences of the crimes to which he pleaded guilty, calling his own sentence “hefty and substantial.”A former resident of the Cavendish and Chester area who works as a carpenter, painter and handyman, Horton has repeatedly run afoul of the law over the years, crimes which his defenders said were committed in the throes of drug addiction that dates back to his teenage years, according to prior court statements.“I’ve known Mitchell since he was a little boy and I like him and I’ve seen him get off track and get on track,” Will Hunter, a former attorney and housing provider in Windsor County who described himself as a victim of Horton’s crimes, told the court via a video link. “He’s a wonderful person with a terrible drug problem and I think long-term supervision may allow him to thrive and be a productive member of the community.”Horton, who is already serving a separate federal sentence after pleading guilty earlier this year for being a felon in possession of firearms, was being treated in the ER at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in 2022 when he bolted out the door and drove away in an idling employee shuttle van. He later ditched the van behind a barn in Weathersfield and attempted to flee on foot.Horton had been transported to DHMC for treatment from Springfield Hospital, where he had showed up earlier with injuries sustained when he crashed a car in Cavendish that he had stolen from an auto mechanic’s shop in Springfield. Horton stole the vehicle by backing it out of the repair bay and crashing through the overhead doors, police said.He was released on conditions but subsequently arrested again in 2023, and charged with stealing another vehicle and possessing a handgun, which he was prohibited from owning due to prior felony convictions.Under his plea agreement, Horton is also required to make financial restitution to victims. A separate court hearing will be held to confirm the amounts and Horton’s ability to pay.Horton pleaded guilty to charges of gross negligence in operating a vehicle, possession of stolen property, petty larceny, grand larceny, heroin possession, unlawful mischief and aggravated operation of a vehicle without the owner’s consent.The grand larceny charge was for stealing about $8,000 out of an ATM at Downer’s Corner Store in Perkinsville in 2021.Numerous other charges, including burglary and forgery, were dismissed under the plea agreement.Read the story on VTDigger here: Man who stole Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center van receives prison sentence.