Escapee gets prison time for burglary, assault, violating no-contact order

HIBBING — An Iron Range man who escaped custody in 2025 will spend at least three years in prison.

Michael Todd Hart, 41, of Hibbing, was sentenced June 18 for burglary, assault and violating a domestic abuse no contact order. He pleaded guilty in May.

In June 2025, Hart broke into an apartment in Hibbing, where a woman he was romantically involved with was staying, and assaulted the woman and another man, according to court filings. The man shot at Hart once, and Hart left the apartment. He was later found at the Grand Itasca hospital in Grand Rapids with a gunshot wound in his abdomen.

He was in custody for those charges when he escaped from a correctional facility in Saginaw in September 2025.

Hart was sentenced to 46 months at the Minnesota Correctional Facility-St. Cloud. He received 314 days' credit for time served. Hart was also sentenced to 90 days and 133 days in the St. Louis County Jail, but those sentences were already fulfilled with time served.

In Minnesota, people sentenced to prison time typically serve two-thirds of their sentence incarcerated and one-third under supervised release.

On Monday, Hart also pleaded guilty to a felony charge for escaping from custody. His sentencing in that case is set for August.

Also in August, Hart will be sentenced in Itasca County. He pleaded guilty to two assault charges there in January.

According to court documents, Hart spat in the face of two sheriff’s deputies who were arresting him after his escape.

Hart's cases gained further media attention after Itasca County released him from custody shortly after he pleaded guilty, which St. Louis County officials called a mistake.