NYC pair sentenced for conspiring to commit robberies and committing armed check cashing robberies in Hackettstown, Parsippany, Old Bridge

NEW JERSEY – Two Brooklyn men were sentenced to lengthy prison terms Tuesday for their roles in three gunpoint robberies of check cashing locations in different parts of New Jersey in 2021 and 2022, as well as conspiring to commit robberies in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, according to U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger.

Ramel Harris, a/k/a Ramel Harrison, 43, of Brooklyn, and Neville Brown, 40, of Brooklyn, were both sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi in Newark federal court to 186 months in prison, Sellinger said.

Both men previously pleaded guilty before Judge Cecchi to three counts of an Indictment charging them with Hobbs Act conspiracy, Hobbs Act robbery, and using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, namely the Hobbs Act robbery, Sellinger said.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, on several dates between January 2021 and January 2022, two individuals, later identified as Harris and Brown, attempted to rob a check cashing location in Nanuet, New York, and thereafter successfully robbed three check cashing locations in Parsippany-Troy Hills, Old Bridge, and Hackettstown while brandishing a firearm and using zip ties to restrain female employees at each location. During those robberies, Harris and Brown stole approximately $563,566.35.

During those robberies, Harris and Brown stole more than $317,159 from the Parsippany establishment, approximately $109,733 from the Old Bridge establishment and at least $151,167 from the Hackettstown establishment.

During the subsequent investigation, law enforcement learned that the conspirators surveilled check cashing locations in the following locations: Mount Kisco, New York, Allentown, Pennsylvania and West Chester, Pennsylvania.  Law enforcement obtained video surveillance footage that ultimately linked Harris and Brown to the robberies.  Furthermore, historical cell phone records indicate that Harris’s and Brown’s cellular telephones were in or around the locations of the various robberies around the times that they were committed.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Cecchi sentenced Harris and Brown to five years of supervised release.