July 17, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Prosecutor Tim Rutkowski, 989.269.9255
On Monday, July 14, 2025, Ruben Darnell Whimper, 25, of Battle Creek entered a guilty plea to False Pretenses – $1,000-$20,000, in the 52nd Circuit Court of Huron County. This is a felony charge carrying a penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
This charge stemmed from an investigation headed by Detective Derek Joy of the Bad Axe Police Department. In February 2025, Det. Joy responded to a complaint at a local party store claiming that an individual had used stolen credit card numbers to purchase over $7,000 in lottery tickets. Det. Joy was able to review surveillance footage from the party store to get a general description of the suspect. After consulting with the Michigan Lottery, Det. Joy learned that many of the tickets had been redeemed at the Walmart store in Bad Axe. Walmart was able to provide video of the individual who redeemed the tickets, later determined to be Whimper. Det. Joy was also able to get video of the vehicle that the suspects were using. It was also determined through the investigation with the Michigan Lottery that some of the tickets obtained by false pretenses were redeemed at Meijer stores in Kalamazoo and Battle Creek. Det. Joy followed up with these stores and was able to locate more video of the suspect as well as the same vehicle in which he was seen at the Walmart store in Bad Axe. Det. Joy then partnered with investigators from Kalamazoo Public Safety to perform facial recognition analysis on the all of the video images. At this point, a positive identification was made on Whimper and his co-defendant. This identification was corroborated by Det. Joy through analysis of cell phone records as well as financial data received from the victim’s banks.
At the culmination of the investigation, a warrant was authorized by Prosecuting Attorney Tim Rutkowski. Mr. Whimper was subsequently arrested and arraigned on his charges on March 14, 2025. Mr. Rutkowski noted:
“This is a brilliant example of investigative techniques and dogged determination by Det. Derek Joy, the Bad Axe Police Department. In many communities, a financial crime of this nature would not be investigated or prosecuted due to available law enforcement resources. We in Huron County are lucky to have law enforcement agencies who are willing to devote the time and effort to ensure that all those who commit crimes, including crimes of a financial nature, are brought to justice.”
