Millcreek police charge trio in ‘Felony Lane Gang’-type theft spree at local health clubs

Some local residents who went to Erie-area gyms for exercise classes on the morning of Nov.

30 returned to their vehicles after working out to find their purses and other valuables gone. In some cases, the vehicles were unlocked. In others, vehicle windows were smashed out to get at the contents inside, according to investigators.

Over the next two days, the stolen driver’s license of one of the victims was used to cash checks that were stolen from an Ohio woman and forged at various Marquette Savings Bank branches in the Erie region, Millcreek Township police reported. Three out-of-state residents are now facing a host of criminal charges in the theft and fraud spree that investigators believe is part of a nationwide scheme that has circulated for years. Millcreek police late last week filed charges including multiple felony counts of forgery, access device fraud and receiving stolen property against Steven X.

Ferguson, 29, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Nancy L. Hedrick, 62, whose last known address was in Kent, Ohio; and Kimberly A. Marienau, 37, of Trevor, Wisconsin.

The three also face misdemeanor counts of theft from a motor vehicle for their accused roles in what investigators said was a crime spree similar to the “Felony Lane Gang” scheme that has plagued communities across the country. Ferguson additionally faces misdemeanor counts of possessing an instrument of crime and criminal mischief, according to court documents. The three suspects, who remained at large Wednesday, are accused by Millcreek police of stealing items after breaking into vehicles parked at iRock Fitness, 2312 W.

15th St., and Fit Plus, 2421 Asbury Road, on the morning of Nov.

30. The Pennsylvania State Police in Girard are investigating similar break-ins of vehicles parked at Erie Fitness Academy on Edinboro Road in McKean Township that same morning, but those crimes remain under investigation with no charges filed as of Wednesday, an agency official reported.

Millcreek Township police have charged three out-of-state residents in a rash of thefts from vehicles at local gyms and in the cashing of forged checks in a crime spree they say is similar to the “Felony Lane Gang” scheme circulating the country.

Nationwide scam hits locally

The Felony Lane Gang scheme is believed to have originated in Florida more than a decade ago and has circulated throughout the country. According to official reports and news media articles, the scam follows a similar pattern: Suspects target vehicles driven by women who leave their vehicles outside of businesses including health clubs, particularly at times when the clubs have scheduled exercise classes.

The vehicles are broken into and valuables including checks and credit cards are stolen. The cards are used to make purchases or obtain cash, and women are recruited to impersonate a victim so a victim’s stolen driver’s license can be used to cash stolen checks. In one recent case, four Florida men were sentenced in October in Albany, New York, to federal prison terms after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and other offenses.

Authorities accused the four of being involved in the scheme between 2015 and 2020, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of New York reported[1]. FBI: Felony Lane Gang has been terrorizing moms across US for years[2]

The case against Ferguson, Hedrick and Marienau is believed to be the first time locally that suspects were charged in a Felony Lane Gang-type scheme. Erie police said similar crimes occurred in the city about a year ago, but those cases remain under investigation and no one was charged. The break-ins at iRock Fitness and Fit Plus were reported between 5:40 a.m. and 6:40 a.m. on Nov.

30. One of the victims reported seeing a white sport-utility vehicle in her gym’s parking lot when she arrived for a fitness class, investigators wrote in criminal complaints. Police would locate surveillance video from a restaurant off Interchange Road in Millcreek that showed a white Jeep Grand Cherokee arriving at the restaurant shortly after 7 a.m. on Nov.

30 and a person discarding purses in a dumpster. Purses belonging to two of the victims from iRock Fitness were later recovered from the dumpster, investigators wrote in the affidavit of probable cause filed with Hedrick’s criminal complaint. Minutes after the Jeep was seen at the restaurant, the same vehicle pulled into the parking lot at Erie Fitness Academy and a suspect was seen looking through vehicles before using a window punch tool to break a vehicle window and steal a purse, according to the affidavit.

Other video then showed the suspect vehicle arrive at a parking lot at another location on Route 99 in McKean, where a suspect exited the vehicle and removed a shield that obscured the license plate registration, the investigator wrote. A total of six vehicle windows were shattered at the two Millcreek gyms, causing about £2,800 in damages, and the six victims lost over £4,000 in stolen property that included purses, wallets, money, passports, driver’s licenses and credit cards, according to information in the affidavit.

Cashing stolen checks

On the afternoon of Dec.

1, a day after the vehicle break-ins, Millcreek police said a white Jeep Grand Cherokee went to four Marquette Savings Bank branches in and around Erie and used the driver’s license of one of the victims of the gym thefts to cash six forged checks totaling £17,790. The next day, the vehicle arrived at a Marquette Savings Bank branch in Conneaut Lake, where a forged check was cashed for £3,500, according to information in the affidavit.

Police learned that all of the forged checks were stolen from a woman in Fremont, Ohio, who reported that her purse was stolen from her vehicle while she was at a Jazzercise class in Fremont on Dec.

1. The woman said she had seen a suspect fleeing in a white Jeep Grand Cherokee, the investigator wrote in the affidavit. Working with authorities in Ohio and Michigan, Millcreek police received information that led them to identify Ferguson as one of the suspects in the local vehicle break-ins, according to information in the affidavit.

On Dec.

18, authorities in Michigan reported that a vehicle was recovered by officers after police were sent to investigate a reported theft at a Jazzercise. The suspects fled the scene but got into a motor vehicle accident before abandoning the vehicle, and evidence recovered from the vehicle included items believed to be connected to the Erie thefts, investigators reported. Millcreek police said they developed additional information in the investigation that led them to identify Hedrick and Marienau as suspects in the local crimes.

Contact Tim Hahn at [email protected].

Follow him on X @ETNhahn.[3][4]

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Millcreek police charge 3 in thefts from vehicles at gyms, check fraud[5]

References

1. ^ reported (www.justice.gov)
2. ^ Felony Lane Gang has been terrorizing moms across US for years (www.usatoday.com)
3. ^ [email protected] (www.yahoo.com)
4. ^ @ETNhahn. (www.twitter.com)
5. ^ Millcreek police charge 3 in thefts from vehicles at gyms, check fraud (www.goerie.com)