Motorists, shoppers beachgoers beware. A nationwide gang with a name right out of Marvel Comics wants your money, Social Security number, drivers license and credit cards.
The Felony Lane Gang specializes in targeting places where women are likely to leave their purses – in a car, gyms, playgrounds, beaches, day care centers and the like. Male members of the gang steal purses or wallets by opening unlocked cars or using a window punch – a spring-loaded steel spike sold for a few dollars on Amazon as an emergency escape tool. That crime is typically a misdemeanor.
Gang members then recruit female accomplices, who, for a small share of the take, risk a felony by using the stolen information to cash forged checks or make store purchases with the credit cards. Those purchases are usually made within hours, before card issuers can be notified. If caught, the women are abandoned by the gang.
On Tuesday, Portsmouth Herald reporter Elizabeth Dinan said police believe that the gang was possibly responsible for a number of recent smash-and-grab thefts from autos in the Pierce Island neighborhood. Some of the credit cards stolen were quickly used at stores in Kittery.
The gang or gangs, no one is sure how many are using the same modus operandi, began in Florida an undetermined number of years ago. A Florida sheriff said in 2012 that the gang’s novel name was given to them by law enforcement because of their habit of using the outside drive-thru lane when passing bad checks at a bank. Tellers have a poorer view of motorists and license plates in that lane, which is less likely to have a surveillance camera.
Law enforcement advice calls for locking purses and other valuables in the vehicle’s trunk, which keeps them out of view and is harder for a criminal to access.