Police: Two Women Connected To Nationwide Fraud Scam Arrested In Matthews

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Police say they arrested two women who are part of the ‘Felony Lane Gang’ after they attempted to cash a fraudulent check in Matthews.

Investigators say Dusty Wheaton and Alisha Mowery tried to cash the check at the drive through for the State Employees Credit Union on Matthews Township Parkway on April 18th.

The women reportedly left the bank at a high rate of speed after being refused service.  Their vehicle was pulled over a short time later and both women were taken into custody.

Detectives believe these women are part of the ‘Felony Lane Gang.’  The group is based out of Florida and members of the group reportedly commit car break-ins to gather financial and identity information so they can commit fraud at a later time.

They usually operate in groups of six to nine individuals and have been reported active in 34 states over at least the past five years while accumulating several million dollars, according to a news release.

Police say the vehicles that are targeted for break-ins are typically driven by a female, located most often, but not limited to the parking lots of: public parks, youth sporting facilitates, fitness and  day care centers.

Once the financial and identity information has been taken from the victim’s vehicle, it is then used at a bank to withdraw money or cash a check from a previous victim’s account.

While the male members typically commit the car break-ins to obtain this information, females are recruited to impersonate the female victim at the bank for the fraudulent transaction, according to police.

Police say the females will do as much as possible to their appearance, including wearing wigs, to look like the victim during the transaction. The females will go through the farthest outer teller lane of the bank drive through (Where the name “Felony Lane Gang” originates from) in a rental car that has been fraudulently rented under the name of a previous victim. Each rental car will be used for a certain period of time or until identified by authorities, then the group will rent another one under a different victim’s name to make their multi-state travels harder to track.

For more information about this group, you can follow the Felony Lane Gang Task Force Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/FelonyLaneGang/