Lakeland gang busted under white collar statutes after forging PPP documents

Suspected gang members arrested for COVID relief fraud

FOX 13's Evan Axelbank shares how a white collar crime got 12 suspected gang members arrested in Lakeland.

LAKELAND, Fla. - Prosecutors say members of a gang involved in a mass shooting that got a lot of attention are now behind bars after being caught stealing COVID relief money from the government.

"You may remember that shooting. It made quite a stir in Lakeland," said Lakeland Police Chief Sammy Taylor.

The investigation that started January 30th of 2023 led detectives to charge two suspects with gun charges.

But, they eventually realizing that a dozen members of the gang responsible for the mass shooting were living the high life on the backs of taxpayers, thanks to paycheck protection loans.

"(One suspect) got $20,000 in loans," said US Attorney Gregory Kehoe. "What did he spend it on? He spent it on automobiles, liquor stores, and investment sites."

The PPP loans were designed to keep real businesses afloat during the pandemic.

Instead, the suspects just pretended to have a business and made off with between $14,000 and $20,000.

Some even lied again to get their loans forgiven.

"We did searches on eleven different locales in the Lakeland area we didn't find one business record," said Kehoe.

READ: Grady Judd wipes smile off face of illegal immigrant who attacked federal agent in Lakeland

The white-collar nature of the investigation into a street gang that is used to be chased for their guns and drugs is a relatively new tool detectives can use to find irrefutable evidence.

Witness descriptions or fuzzy surveillance video don't come into play when all a detective needs to know is which account the government put money into.

What they're saying:

"It's a new day," said Kehoe. "Let's be perfectly honest, they have used it as a way to garner funds in a very efficient fashion, they were smart enough to do that."

But the arrests don't mean the gang is necessarily busted, at least not yet.

"There's still other individuals that we're interested in," said Kehoe. "And I don't want to go any more details of that, but we're not done."

The twelve defendants took in a combined $230,000 and are being charged with wire fraud.

News conference on Lakeland federal gang charges

U.S. Attorney Gregory Kehoe shares the federal gang charges after a 2023 mass shooting in Lakeland.

What's next:

Each faces up to two decades in prison.

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