ALBANY — A member of the Felony Lane Gang, one of nine members arrested in September 2020, has been sentenced.
Tyrone Parker, 41, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was sentenced in Albany to nearly five years in prison after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, said U.S. Attorney Carla B. Freedman.
The Felony Lane Gang gained local infamy by breaking into parked vehicles and stealing debit cards, credit cards, checkbooks and photo identifications which they later used to commit bank fraud by recruiting women to impersonate the smash-and-grab victims in drive-through bank lanes to cash checks, Freedman said.
The gang was active up and down the East Coast including Columbia and Greene counties.
In his guilty plea, Parker admitted that he was involved in a fraud scheme known as “Felony Lane Gang” between 2019 and 2020. Parker and his co-conspirators traveled across the country breaking into cars, often targeting those parked by women at locations such as health and fitness centers, day cares and parks, Freedman said.
The Felony Lane Gang was responsible for multiple break-ins in Columbia and Greene counties in 2019, including vehicles in the parking lots of Planet Fitness in Greenport and Sweat Fitness in Catskill.
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and state police assisted in the federal investigation.
Gang members tended to recruit check cashers almost always suffering from an addiction to controlled substances and were provided payment at least partially in narcotics, according to the District Court.
Parker was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $132,990, and to pay a forfeiture money judgment of $7,202. Parker will serve a three-year term of supervised release after completing his term of imprisonment, Freedman said.
Parker was one of nine men charged in a 13-count indictment for their roles in the scheme. Keyshawn Arnold, 25, of Schenectady; Gary Grier, 37, of Fort Lauderdale; Joshua Mallory, 37, of Fort Lauderdale; and Terrell McDonald, 32, of Troy, previously pled guilty for their roles in the indictment. The remaining co-defendants are: Tyrone Parker Jr., 22, of Fort Lauderdale; Cedric Lynch, 37, of Orlando; Robert Natson, 36, of Fort Lauderdale; and Randall Taylor, 37, of Fort Lauderdale.
Each of the remaining defendants is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, and they are scheduled to stand trial in federal court in Albany on July 10.