Photo Courtesy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of NY
Lafayette Morrison
By Forum Staff
A federal jury has convicted Lafayette Morrison of Hobbs Act robbery and conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery in connection with the March 7, 2020 armed robbery of more than $280,000 in cash from Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
Morrison and co-defendant Lamel Miller were also convicted of brandishing a firearm, and Morrison of obstruction of justice. Miller pleaded guilty to the robbery in September 2022. When sentenced, the defendants each face minimum sentences of seven years’ imprisonment, and up to life imprisonment. The verdict followed a five-day trial before United States District Court Judge Ann M. Donnelly.
Photo Courtesy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of NY
Lamel Miller
As proven at trial, at approximately 10 p.m. following the Gotham Day stakes races at Aqueduct, Miller and a co-conspirator held up at gunpoint several racetrack employees – including Morrison, who was employed as a racetrack security guard – as they were transporting more than $284,000 in cash earnings to a vault. Miller and the co-conspirator emerged from their hiding spot in a stairwell and confronted the employees at gunpoint, taking the cash and employees’ cell phones, and forcing the employees into a closet. Miller and the co-conspirator then went to a hotel where they divided up the robbery proceeds; they each took $100,000 and gave the remaining $84,000 to Morrison who had posed as a victim during the robbery, but who was actually the robbery crew’s “inside man,” providing information in advance about where and when the money would be transported to the vault. When interviewed by federal law enforcement officers after the robbery, Morrison repeatedly lied to officers, including by claiming to be a victim of the crime and misidentifying a photograph of his childhood friend, Miller.
