Brooklyn Gang Members Charged For Stealing $94K In Bank Scheme

Nine alleged gang members were indicted yesterday on charges of stealing more than $94,000 from banks using counterfeit checks.

In two years, the defendants and co-conspirators reportedly deposited 241 counterfeit checks into 71 bank accounts at Bank of America, TD Bank, Capital One, and JP Morgan Chase, mostly using ATMs, according to court evidence.

The defendants were charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of a forged instrument, said Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez and Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill.

“We now know that gang members are increasingly using financial fraud to pay for their lifestyle – like they allegedly did in the simple yet very lucrative scheme charged in these indictments,” said Acting District Attorney Gonzalez.

The defendants have been identified as residents of East Flatbush, Crown Heights, Brownsville, Flatbush, Ditmas Park, Midwood, and Flatlands.

Michael Morris, 21; Trumane Gibbs, 23; Darnell Brown, 24; Tevon Allen, 28; Daquan Johnson, 24; Timothy Brown, 23; Jeffrey Debrosse, 27; Julian Hubbard, 21; and Jermel Belfast, 30, all face up to seven years in prison if convicted.

Gibbs and Morris are members of a subset of the 8-Tray Crips gang called Bosses in Business; Johnson and Brown are members of the Flatbush G-Stone Crips crew, and Hubbard belongs to the Folk Nation gang.

Morris, Belfast, Allen, Darbell Brown and Debrosse were arraigned on Wednesday, but the four others haven’t been found yet.