Derby drug dealer becomes new ‘hot felon’ as mugshot goes viral

Who could forget how Jeremy Meeks shot to fame after cops posted his mugshot online?

The now 37-year-old was jailed in 2014, charged with grand theft and possessing a firearm. But when the Stockton Police Department shared his photo on their Facebook page at the time, they had no idea they’d be inadvertently launching his modelling career, rocketing him to international stardom, and awarding him the immortal nickname “hot felon”.

Now a similar phenomenon seems to be germinating over in the UK, as another convicted man sets pulses racing on social media.

On Thursday Derbyshire Police tweeted a press release about a recent drug bust in the area but, since then, most Twitter users have seemed more preoccupied with the appearance of one of the offenders than by the crime itself.

Stephen Perry, 29, was sentenced to three years behind bars after pleading guilty to “conspiracy to supply cannabis,” according to the official statement.

However, people don’t seem too bothered by his misdemeanours, as you can see from their comments:

Although the comments are pretty hilarious we should all remind ourselves that crime is no laughing matter.

The police release states that Perry teamed up with Albanian gang leader Egi Tafa to produce “hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of cannabis.”

This crop was then supplied to dealers across the Midlands and sold to users in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and Staffordshire.

Perry and his cohort were caught following a series of coordinated raids in Doncaster, Mansfield, Nottingham, King’s Lynn, Birmingham and Sandiacre last year.

The cannabis recovered by the cops had an estimated street value of more than £500,000.

In total, nine men, including the 29-year-old heart-throb, were jailed for their involvement in the elaborate racket.