2 Accused Of Planning To Rob Check Cashing Shops In Nanuet, Mt. Kisco

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Two Brooklyn residents are accused of conspiracy to commit robberies in Nanuet and Mount Kisco plus three gunpoint robberies of check cashing businesses in different parts of New Jersey in 2021 and 2022.

U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced Thursday that Ramel Harris, 40, and Neville Brown, 38, are charged by complaint with one count of Conspiracy to Commit Hobbs Act Robbery, three counts of Hobbs Act Robbery, and one count of Using, Carrying, and Brandishing a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence.

They had been arrested Sept. 6 in New Jersey and detained.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

On several dates between January 2021 and January 2022, two men attempted to rob a check cashing business in Nanuet, New York, and thereafter successfully robbed three check cashing locations in different parts of New Jersey while brandishing a firearm and using zip ties to restrain female employees at each, prosecutors said.

During those robberies, the duo, later identified as Harris and Brown, stole over $578,000.00, prosecutors alleged.

During the subsequent probe, investigators learned that the two surveilled check cashing locations in Mount Kisco, New York, Allentown, Pennsylvania and West Chester, Pennsylvania, prosecutors alleged.

Law enforcement collected an extensive amount of video surveillance footage that ultimately linked Harris and Brown to the robberies, prosecutors said.

The Hobbs Act Robbery and Conspiracy to Commit Hobbs Act Robbery counts each carry a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison. The count of brandishing of a firearm during a crime of violence carries a maximum potential penalty of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in prison, which must run consecutive to any other term of imprisonment imposed. Each count also carries a fine of up to $250,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss from the offenses, whichever is greatest.

Sellinger credited members of the Clarkstown Police Department, under the leadership of Police Chief Jeffrey Wanamaker; members of the Westchester County (New York) Department of Public Safety; members of the Hackettstown Police Department, under the direction of Police Chief James Macaulay; members of the Old Bridge Police Department, under the leadership of Acting Chief of Police Donald F. Fritz, Jr.; members of the Parsippany-Troy Hills Police Department, under the leadership of Police Chief Richard Pantina; members of the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, under the leadership of Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll; and members of the Borough of West Chester (Pennsylvania) Police Department, as well as members of the FBI’s New Jersey field office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy; members of the FBI’s New York field office, under the leadership of Assistant Director In Charge Michael J. Driscoll; and members of the FBI’s Philadelphia field office, under the leadership of Special Agent in Charge Jacqueline Maguire, with the investigation leading to the charges.

Editor's Note: The date of their initial arrest and detention was added to the original version of this article.