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Crime & Safety

2 Charged with Selling Fake Drugs to Police Informant

Two West Allis men try selling a bag of ginger and leaves they claim is marijuana in order to get money to buy heroin, according to criminal complaint.

Two West Allis men are facing felony charges after they tried to sell fake marijuana to a police informant in order to get money to feed their heroin addictions, according to a criminal complaint.

Christopher T. France, 21, and Nicholas A. Mealey, 20, were charged in on Tuesday with one count of imitation of a controlled substance. If convicted, they could each face up to 3-½ years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint:

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On Feb. 24, 2011, France and Mealey agreed to meet the police informant in the parking lot of a Waukesha business where they would sell one pound of marijuana for $3,600. Just before they conducted the deal, they called the informant and said they could only get a half-pound and would sell that for $1,800.

The men told the informant he couldn’t open up a bag containing the drugs, but could only feel it to verify it was marijuana. The informant said the package felt like marijuana, but it smelled like lemons.

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France and Mealey tried to leave the scene with the informant’s money and were pulled over shortly afterward by the Waukesha Police Department’s Tactical Unit.

The men told investigators they had collected leaves and placed it in the bag with ginger in order to make it feel like marijuana in order to rip off the buyer. They said they have heroin addictions and were planning to scam the informant in order to buy drugs. They will make their initial appearance in court Jan. 30.   

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