Huffington Magazine Issue 59 | Page 62

HUFFINGTON 07.28.13 KHOU.COM THE BIG STEAL said, “Ace is the biggest phone trafficker in the country.” Founded four years ago, Ace Wholesale was the brainchild of Jason Floarea, a Detroit area entrepreneur who opened his first wireless retail outlet when he was only 16, according to the company’s website. He says on the site that he started the company to help consumers purchase top quality smartphones at discount prices. Now 27, Floarea is a married father of three and an ordained minister. He aims to open his own church focused on outreach to convicts, alcoholics and the home- less, the site says. Local law enforcement, however, accuse him of less savory activities: acting as a well-known buyer of smartphones and tablets stolen in burglaries and armed robberies. In January 2010, Dearborn, Mich., police pulled over Floarea in his wife’s silver Lexus and found two handguns, more than 30 cell phones, marijuana, a bottle of prescription drugs and more than $40,000 in cash, according to a local police report obtained by The Huffington Post through the Freedom of Information Act. He was arrested on charges of possession of marijuana, possession with intent to distribute narcotics and possession of a firearm in commission In April, burglars drove a truck through the front of a cell phone store in Houston before stealing dozens of cell phones.