MACOMB COUNTY BUSTS CRACK-FOR-CARS TRADING SCHEME

Want to know what you can get for that rusty hooptie? Depends on whom you ask.

In Mt. Clemens, for instance, the sheriff says some addicts are trading
their rides for crack cocaine.

Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel announced Friday the arrest of three
people and warrants issued for four others, all part of his move to put
down the crack-for-cars trade.

What happens, Hackel said, is that not only do the vehicles get traded for
crack, some people end up reporting the cars stolen -- and officers then
have to track them down.

The problem is not unique to Mt. Clemens either, police said. Veteran
street cops in neighboring Clinton Township are investigating reports of a
similar operation there.

Not all the missing car cases involve direct trade-ins, however. Many
disappear for another reason, the Sheriff's Office said, and involve a
third party.

It goes like this: Drug users pitch in cash for the crack and hand over the
car keys to a buyer with some experience.

That person is supposed to come back with the rocks and wheels, Clinton
Township Detective Lt. Bruce Wade said.

But instead he disappears. "He ends up smoking all the crack himself," Wade
said. The empty-handed addict then reports the car stolen.