Auto dealer accused of laundering drug money
Friday, March 9, 2007
BY Shane Hoover
REPOSITORY STAFF WRITER

CANTON Car dealer Michael "Mickey" Miller could put you in a ride. If you happened to be a drug dealer, he could do more - make your dirty money clean, federal authorities say.

The Jackson Township car dealer is facing 33 new counts of money laundering in a federal probe that already features a giant diamond and the former home of a boxing legend.

A new federal indictment alleges that Miller, 66, used his businesses - including a Family Express dealership in Jackson and Mickey Miller Wadsworth Chevrolet - to launder money from drug dealers.

"It was dope money going in and coming back out," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Bulford.

Miller did not return a message left for him at Family Express. His attorneys could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

LENGTHY INVESTIGATION

As far back as 1999, Miller took money from known drug dealers who wanted to buy high-end cars, Bulford said. Miller also used drug money to buy cars at auction or invested it in a way that made the income appear legitimate, investigators said.

Starting in May 2004, an undercover agent posing as "John Rizzo," a money man for a drug organization, made contact with Miller, Bulford said.

Miller sold Rizzo a new Cadillac DeVille for $40,000, titled it to the agent's "girlfriend" and listed one of his own addresses for Rizzo's residence, according to the indictment.

Rizzo then gave Miller $100,000 to buy cars at auction. In return, the agent started to receive "consulting fee checks" from Miller.

In December 2004, Miller told Rizzo that, being in the drug business, he needed to shield his property from seizure. Miller offered to run money slowly through his business, the indictment alleges.

CLEAN UP

In September 2005, Rizzo gave Miller $700,000 and told him it needed to look legitimate, the indictment says. A few months later, the agent gave him an additional $100,000.

Miller used a large portion of the money to buy a Chevrolet dealership in Wadsworth.

Miller then put Rizzo on the payroll at Mickey Miller Wadsworth Chevrolet in August as a "ghost employee," the indictment says.

In return for his investments, the agent received nearly $206,000 from Miller, according to the indictment.

Authorities arrested Miller and Paul Monea, a former TV infomercial-maker, in December. Both men were indicted in what federal prosecutors said was a money-laundering scheme to sell a 43-carat diamond and the former estate of Mike Tyson for $19.5 million. Rizzo acted as broker for the deal and said the buyers were drug dealers.

The new charges, while related to that investigation, do not include Monea, 60, of Alliance.

Source: CantonRep.com