Colored Boy, Darius Fluellen, is the LOOSIE CIG KING of Michigan - Busted buying 139 carton of smokes with stolen credit cards
MASON COUNTY, MI – Just what were a couple of guys from Detroit planning to do with the 139 cartons of cigarettes they had inside their car when they were busted outside Ludington?
Mason County Sheriff Kim C. Cole said he wasn't sure. But if they sold them on the street for a buck apiece, they would pocket more than $27,000.
Police believe the pair also had stolen credit card information that was used to purchase the cigarettes at multiple outlets in Manistee and Mason counties, and possibly elsewhere.
One of the suspects, Darius Fluellen, 19, of Detroit is facing seven felony counts as the result of a months-long investigation by the Mason County Sheriff's Office. He was arrested on those seven counts when he returned to Mason County to plead to a marijuana possession charge that also came out of Mason County, Cole said.
Police continue to look for his partner who faces the same seven felony charges.
The sheriff's office began investigating after receiving a tip on Dec. 21, 2015, from the Manistee County Sheriff's Office, which had been trying to catch up with the duo after they had purchased large amounts of cigarettes in that county, Cole said.
The following day, someone from the Airport EZ Mart on U.S. 10 in Pere Marquette Township contacted Cole's office to say two people had purchased large quantities of cigarettes, Cole said. It later was determined that large quantities of cigarettes also had been purchased at Eastgate Wesco, a half-block away from the EZ Mart, Cole said.
It is against state law to possess 3,000 or more cigarettes. In this case, the two had more than 27,000 cigarettes in their car when a deputy stopped their vehicle in Ludington, Cole said. They also had multiple debit cards in the car, many of them pre-paid cards, he said. Investigators were able to track one of the cards to an unsuspecting victim, he said.
Both men also had marijuana in their possession, were arrested for that and bailed out of jail the next day, Cole said. When Fluellen returned to Mason County on Feb. 23 to answer to the marijuana charge, he was arrested on the seven felony count warrant related to the cigarettes and stolen credit cards. At his arraignment Wednesday bail was set at $15,000 cash or surety.
Fluellen is facing a charge of violating the Tobacco Products Tax Act, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and or $50,000 fine; five felony counts of stealing/retaining without consent a financial transaction device, each punishable by up to four years in prison and/or $5,000 fine; and one count of identity theft, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and/or $25,000 fine.
Cole said an arrest warrant with the same charges for Fluellen's alleged accomplice also has been issued.
The duo went to the Wesco store twice to buy cigarettes and to the EZ Mart three times, Cole said. The rest of the cigarettes were purchased elsewhere, he said.
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