Smash-and-grabs in Minnesota being investigated for ties to Felony Lane Gang
MINNEAPOLIS — There are at least eight victims across the Twin Cities metro of smash-and-grab thefts from cars and the forgery that follows. Some agencies, including the FBI, are investigating the cases as part of an organized crime ring.
Andrea walked out of a workout class in Savage to a busted window and broken glass in mid-July.
"I felt completely violated. I was kind of in shock. Did this really happen? And then I went down and saw my purse was gone, and like, okay, they just took everything," Andrea said.
A few days earlier, that was the scene in the parking lot of a Nature Center in Dayton: broken glass strewn across a car seat and a mom with her purse stolen.
In May, it also happened to Karissa. The rear driver's side window of her car was smashed outside her gym in Plymouth.
"You can see right out the windows. So it was, I mean, kind of like the audacity to be able to do that," Karissa said.
The thieves left items in the car behind, even a cell phone. It appears the purse was the target. The victims shut down accounts and closed credit cards.
"Nothing really came about it right away, like no one tried to use credit cards, no one tried to use anything that I had that I could find, not until three months later in July," Karissa said.
That's when the women discovered their cases were connected.
"Well, the next morning, I got a Facebook message from this gal, Karissa, and she asked if my checks had recently been stolen," Andrea said.
Someone wrote checks from Andrea's account to the other victims, plus to a woman in Pennsylvania, and cashed them.
"They had written two checks for like, over two grand. One was almost three grand," Andrea said.
They're not the only victims in the metro or even the country.
Elk River police say they have 10 cases of theft and fraud spanning from January to June. They believe they're connected to what's called the "Felony Lane Gang."
Investigators in Minnesota with active cases won't talk about it, but a New York case explains the fraud scheme.
Last December, a judge sentenced three men and six co-conspirators to federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
According to documents, the men admitted to being part of a fraud scheme called the "Felony Lane Gang."
They target cars parked by women, taking purses with checkbooks and IDs. Then they recruit women to impersonate the victims using drive-thru bank lines to cash stolen checks.
"They drive through the farthest lane in the drive-thru — they're called the Felony Lane Gang for that reason — and they get checks cashed. They'll wear wigs, they'll do whatever they have to do to look like you or look enough like you to get the checks cashed," Karissa said.
These women want to warn others and say they've changed what they leave in the car.
"I think that the awareness of that is, is great because I wasn't thinking of it like that prior. Was probably pretty naive to it. Obviously, I had things in my car, and you probably shouldn't have, so, you know, that was a big lesson learned for me," Karissa.
None of the locations had cameras outside.
Police say it only takes seconds to smash a window and grab an item. They say it's a good idea to take valuables with you or hide them in your car. Lock them in a glove compartment or in your trunk before getting to your destination and they say to remember to lock your door.