Michigan State Police tell FOX 47 News that Christopher Staggs has been on their radar for over a year.
We are told that he is the owner of LansingParty.com. That is the company that rented two buses to a Michigan State student group over the weekend and left them stranded in St. Johns. Those two buses were impounded Saturday night by Clinton County Sheriffs for no insurance and no annual inspection.
Thursday we paid Mr. Staggs a visit. Earlier in the day, we stopped by Staggs' Lansing home, but he didn't answer.
Staggs is accused of operating several party bus companies under several different names. According to the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), none of those companies were licensed except the Lansing Party bus company. MDOT Spokesperson, Michael Frezell, told us that the LansingParty.com license was revoked in September 2016.
"The commercial insurance expired on September 1st, 2016 and since they never updated us with new insurance we revoked them on September 14, 2016," said Frezell.
According to several former employees driving around in unlicensed vehicles was commonplace. Lisa Thomas drove for Lansing Party and she said she was stopped by Michigan State Police a number of times.
"I was pulled over three times, same reason, not insured, no authority to operate," said Thomas.
Those formers employees told us Staggs was business partners with a man named Jason Vawter. Vawter was another name that came up often with unhappy customers.
We tried to talk to Vawter about his association with Staggs, and he refused to comment saying he didn't want to be on camera.
MDOT tells FOX 47 News that they received 8 complaints about Staggs party buses last year. They tell us that is an abnormal amount for a company within a year. Frezell said, "they've come in at various times and we've acted on them."
We have received an email from party bus claiming the accusations are not true. They also state that they believe police are just harassing them. We have reached out back to them, and are waiting for a response.
MDOT wants to remind you that before you rent a bus or limo to check and make sure the company has a proper license, and their safety inspections are up to date. That can be checked on their website.
For the MDOT bus and limo website, click here.
