Police: Carwash tied to Fuller card ring
By Tony Bridges - April 24th. 2004
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
There were no customers at New Look Auto Detailing late Friday. The sudden appearance of several carloads of vice cops had chased them away.
Looking around his empty business, owner Mike Thomas shook his head.
"This is a drug- and alcohol-free workplace," he said, pointing to a sign on the wall that explained as much. "All we get paid to do is wash and clean cars.
"They think we sell drugs."
Well, not exactly.
Leon County sheriff's detectives say it wasn't dope they were after - but evidence of an illegal gambling operation that extends from the car wash to the home of NFL star Corey Fuller.
It seemed like a one-shot deal earlier in the week.
Local cops and state agents raided Fuller's house on Victoria Street, alleging that he'd been hosting high-stakes "Georgia Skins" card games for a 10-percent cut of the pot. An undercover investigator had seen the whole thing, according to arrest reports.
Sheriff's detectives charged Fuller with a felony gambling violation and several of his guests with misdemeanors. Meanwhile, he scoffed at the accusation, dismissing it as nothing more than a street rumor run amok.
The other shoe dropped Friday.
About mid-afternoon, Tallahassee police and Leon County deputies rolled into New Look with a warrant to search the property. Thomas and 47-year-old Melvin Coates had been running card games there, too, according to a report from an undercover agent.
Both men have been charged with felony counts of maintaining a gambling house.
Detectives went through the cinder-block building that houses the detailing service, and looked into each of the cars in the parking lot. As they searched, Fuller watched from his air-conditioned Range Rover, stopped nearby.
The connection between the player and the car wash?
None that detectives would discuss. And Fuller declined to comment.
Later Friday, Fuller played in a charity basketball game in Jake Gaither Gym at Florida A&M University.
Thomas said Friday he's Fuller's "roommate and housesitter" and a childhood friend. Meanwhile, Coates reportedly is Fuller's cousin.
Standing under an awning outside the carwash, Thomas drank from a can of Natural Light and indirectly addressed the issue of the card games.
"What business like this don't have a deck of cards sitting around?" he said. "They should be out there hunting down some killers and rapists, instead of being on us about some cards.
"Who don't play cards? This is a college town - everybody in Tallahassee plays cards."
But the search really wasn't about gambling anyway, Thomas insisted.
It was about Corey Fuller.
"All the man's trying to do is help me out," he said. "They trying to destroy that man's character and that man's image."
By Tony Bridges - April 24th. 2004
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
There were no customers at New Look Auto Detailing late Friday. The sudden appearance of several carloads of vice cops had chased them away.
Looking around his empty business, owner Mike Thomas shook his head.
"This is a drug- and alcohol-free workplace," he said, pointing to a sign on the wall that explained as much. "All we get paid to do is wash and clean cars.
"They think we sell drugs."
Well, not exactly.
Leon County sheriff's detectives say it wasn't dope they were after - but evidence of an illegal gambling operation that extends from the car wash to the home of NFL star Corey Fuller.
It seemed like a one-shot deal earlier in the week.
Local cops and state agents raided Fuller's house on Victoria Street, alleging that he'd been hosting high-stakes "Georgia Skins" card games for a 10-percent cut of the pot. An undercover investigator had seen the whole thing, according to arrest reports.
Sheriff's detectives charged Fuller with a felony gambling violation and several of his guests with misdemeanors. Meanwhile, he scoffed at the accusation, dismissing it as nothing more than a street rumor run amok.
The other shoe dropped Friday.
About mid-afternoon, Tallahassee police and Leon County deputies rolled into New Look with a warrant to search the property. Thomas and 47-year-old Melvin Coates had been running card games there, too, according to a report from an undercover agent.
Both men have been charged with felony counts of maintaining a gambling house.
Detectives went through the cinder-block building that houses the detailing service, and looked into each of the cars in the parking lot. As they searched, Fuller watched from his air-conditioned Range Rover, stopped nearby.
The connection between the player and the car wash?
None that detectives would discuss. And Fuller declined to comment.
Later Friday, Fuller played in a charity basketball game in Jake Gaither Gym at Florida A&M University.
Thomas said Friday he's Fuller's "roommate and housesitter" and a childhood friend. Meanwhile, Coates reportedly is Fuller's cousin.
Standing under an awning outside the carwash, Thomas drank from a can of Natural Light and indirectly addressed the issue of the card games.
"What business like this don't have a deck of cards sitting around?" he said. "They should be out there hunting down some killers and rapists, instead of being on us about some cards.
"Who don't play cards? This is a college town - everybody in Tallahassee plays cards."
But the search really wasn't about gambling anyway, Thomas insisted.
It was about Corey Fuller.
"All the man's trying to do is help me out," he said. "They trying to destroy that man's character and that man's image."
