It’s always important to read the fine print on your coupons, and avoid the temptation to cheat in order to get a bigger discount than you’re entitled to. You can’t use a coupon meant for a full-sized product on an inexpensive travel size. You can’t use a coupon that requires multiple purchases on the purchase of just one item.
And you can’t use a coupon for $8 off a carton of cigarettes to get $8 off a single pack.
Doing so worked out for 29-year-old Michael Justin Williams of Douglasville, Georgia – for a time. At least until he found himself in court last week, after he was indicted on multiple charges of forgery and racketeering.
Williams is accused of manipulating a legitimate R.J. Reynolds coupon offering $8 off a carton of Newport cigarettes that usually sells for anywhere from $70-$100. His version of the coupon was said to offer $8 off a single pack of Newport cigarettes, which normally sell for $9 or $10.
So for just a dollar or two each, Williams allegedly stocked up on well over a hundred cigarette packs, getting at least an 80% discount each time. According to the indictment, he traveled to various Family Dollar stores, and RaceTrac and Parker’s Kitchen convenience stores, to use his fake coupons.
The indictment zeroes in on twenty purchases made over a one-month period. Overall, though, Williams is accused of using 178 fake coupons, causing a total loss to retailers of $1,425.
Williams is charged with six counts of forgery. He’s also charged with racketeering, under the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. “The acts specified herein constitute a ‘pattern of racketeering activity,'” the indictment explains, “in that at least two of the acts were committed in furtherance of one or more incidents, schemes or transactions.”
Investigators have not said what Williams was planning to do with all of his deeply-discounted cigarette packs. But the RICO Act is typically used to go after those accused of organized crime. So Williams may not have intended to smoke 178 packs worth of Newports himself.
Williams is due back in court next month. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison on the forgery counts, and a more severe penalty on the felony racketeering charge – up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000.
We already knew that cigarettes aren’t good for you. Williams has now found out that counterfeit cigarette coupons could end up being even worse.
Image source: Douglas County Sheriff’s Department / Lindsay Fox 
