GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The man accused of stealing Meijer mPerks account logins and then selling them on the internet — part of a scheme that investigators say yielded him hundreds of thousands of dollars — pleaded guilty Monday to conducting a criminal enterprise.
Under the plea deal Nicholas Mui of Grand Haven entered into with the state, seven felony counts of identity theft and a count of using a computer to commit a crime were dismissed.
AG: Grand Haven man charged after mPerks points stolen
Attorney Andy LaPres, who represents Mui, said his client takes full responsibility for his actions.
“He’s been cooperative from the start. I don’t think (prosecutors) would have had any problem proving the case and he wanted to get his case over with,” LePres said. “The offer was the top charge and in exchange for that, they would dismiss the others. I think that would positively affect the criminal sentencing guidelines for him, so he was willing to take that plea.”
Meijer, Michigan State Police and the state Attorney General’s Office launched a joint investigation after the West Michigan-based retail giant started getting complaints from customers of vanishing points in the spring of 2023. Investigators say Mui got his hands on hacked mPerks account information and then sold them online, after which the purchasers used the legitimate owners’ mPerks points for themselves.
“Did you go online basically steal thousands of mPerks accounts from Meijer and sell those online?” Judge Mark Trusock asked during court proceedings Monday. “And you did this literally thousands of times, is that correct?”
Mui quietly replied that he did.
Court documents show Mui admitted to committing similar crimes with numerous corporations, not just Meijer, since 2019. The affected Meijer customers ultimately got their points back.
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As part of his plea deal, Mui will turn over his ill-gotten gains to the state.
“Mr. Mui has approximately $630,000 within control and custody of the state police (that) he has agreed to criminally forfeit to the state police and our office as a result of this plea,” Eric Sterbis, an attorney with the state, said.
He will also cooperate with the ongoing investigation into the theft.
“Since it is unusual to get somebody with the knowledge of the defendant and have him be charged and now convicted,” Sterbis said. “He has, obviously, a wealth of knowledge of how this was pulled off and how it was conducted. We want to obtain as much information from Mr. Mui as possible to ensure that we’re comfortable with know exactly everything he did and how he did it.”
Mui faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on Sept. 5.
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