A Grovetown trio with gang ties funded big parties, expensive trips and a lavish million-dollar lifestyle with money stolen through identity theft and counterfeiting, authorities said Friday.
The case against former bank employee Kayla Miller, her gangster boyfriend Tymein Walker and Niim Williams revealed expensive tastes, including a pair of $1,100 women’s shoes and an expensive October birthday gala celebrating Walker’s 30th birthday, according to Grovetown Police Investigator Patrick Brown.
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Where did they get the money? Police say it came through the access that Kayla Miller obtained while working at several banks, which ultimately had to refund the stolen money to their customers. Police estimate the amount of fraud at about $1.6 million, and none of the bank customers appear to be local.
Miller would access and steal customer information at the bank, and then the trio would use the information to print counterfeit checks and open accounts under alias names. A search warrant executed Friday at the couple’s home on 5014 Vine St. turned up blank check stock, stolen debit cards and instructions on how to access and use financial databases and personal information.
The trio used the stolen money to live a dream lifestyle.
“They have taken multiple trips to different vacation spots and had elaborate birthday parties that common folk wouldn’t be able to afford,” the investigator said. “It was over-the-top birthday parties, renting out large venues where they were literally throwing out cash. They had high-dollar clothing expenditures, stuff that the average person working at a bank or driving a truck couldn’t be able to afford.”
Walker and Miller live together at the Grovetown home. She worked at different banks while he is a validated member of the “Gangster Disciples.”
Walker allegedly used the stolen money to start a pool hall called The Downtown Lounge on Boundary Street in Augusta and begin a trucking business, police said. The money also furthered illegal gang activity, police said.
All three suspects were arrested last week:
• Walker, 30, was charged last Wednesday with financial card transaction theft, unlawful street gang activity and probation violation. He’s a violent felon with a history of aggravated assault.
• Miller, 28, was charged last Wednesday with financial transaction card theft and two counts of forgery. She has been released.
• Williams, 27, was charged last Friday with forgery and has been released.
The investigation will likely lead to many more charges against the trio as well as spark new arrests, Brown said.
“With any kind of organized crime, there is going to be more than a couple of individuals,” the investigator said. “Preliminary indications, there is going to be a number of people tied to this fraud scheme, with additional charges forthcoming on the three.”
The scheme unraveled with an anonymous tip to investigate Walker’s gang ties and how he utilized his girlfriend’s bank job to fund his activities. Walker and Williams claim to be brothers, but police are not sure if that’s true.
The ties to Walker’s gang are also bringing a focus on a national trend of gang activity that funds illegal criminal activity, Brown said.
“I think a lot of people need to see this is a creeping trend in the Southeast. And it’s going to continue to grow until we address it right in the face, specifically from drugs to organized fraud. Whether they are a hybrid of a neighborhood gang or a group of friends engaged in criminal activity, you still have a gang there,” Brown said.
He said it is not as easy to bust gangs with a simple search warrant looking for drugs. They have more technical skills, and it’s easier for them to engage in fraud to fund a criminal organization.
“Whether they do their violence in Augusta and later head elsewhere, gangs are going to be a problem that continues,” he said.
