(Grand Rapids, MI - WHTC News) - Trying to keep the dying embers of a relationship going is going to cost a 26-year-old Jenison man some years behind bars.

Travis Ghent was sentenced yesterday to between six and 20 years in prison by Kent County Circuit Court Judge George Buth. He did not contest unlawful imprisonment and extortion charges in a deal with prosecutors that had a life-in-prison-upon-conviction kidnapping count dropped.

Last October, Ghent allegedly went to the Byron Center home of his 26-year-old girlfriend, with whom he had been dating since middle school. Saying that he wanted some time to talk to her without her friends’ interference, he drugged and drove her to the East Coast. She was able to escape his clutches three days later in New York, called home, and flew back to West Michigan. Ghent was arrested shortly thereafter.

Ghent’s attorney attempted to lessen his client’s sentence by questioning the intentions of the victim before and during the incident, and blamed the defendant’s actions on steroid use and having ADHD. Those arguments apparently fell on deaf ears when Judge Buth rendered his decision.

-Gary Stevens, WHTC/WYVN News