LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Today, Judge Lindsay Thurston found that probable cause was met by the prosecution for both Willie Albert Johnson III, also known as "Kill Bill", and his fiancé Tajanay Bailey. The two were arrested on March 9 and charged with trafficking stolen identities. Lexington Police financial crimes detective Jason Newman recapped what was found.
He says, "I observed a black...Dior bag, that had numerous state-issued ID cards, and credit or debit cards bearing the names of other individuals, as well as a tan-ish-pink zippered bag that had an additional checkbook associated with five or six other personal or business entities that were not associated with Mr. Johnson or Miss Bailey."
In his testimony, detective Newman says that law enforcement suspects that the fraud is related to the “Felony Lane Gang”, which U.S. ICE describes as crimes where IDs are stolen usually out of vehicles, and customers are impersonated in bank drive-thru lines. He says the fraud is believed to have originated in the couple's home state of Florida.
Detective Newman explains, "Utilizing the bank's terminology, they suspected that this was a 'Felony Lane Gang' activity. Barring a lengthy explanation, essentially it is a type of fraud originated in the south of Florida." Saturday, LEX 18 sat down with Johnson at the Fayette County Detention Center and asked about the 'Felony Lane Gang'.
We asked Johnson if he was familiar with the 'Felony Lane Gang'. He said, "Nah, I’m really not familiar with it. The detective was explaining it to me yesterday about it, but I don't really know too much about it like that."
Two of the fraud victims are from Fayette County. Although Lexington Police could not get into the specifics of the case, they did tell me that the investigation is ongoing and they are advising the community to be mindful of what they keep out in their cars.
Sergeant Guy Miller explains, "The majority of these cases start out as an LFA, larceny from auto. Especially with daylight savings coming around, there's gonna be more people in the park. And as the weather warms up, there's gonna be more people out — and it really comes down to a crime of opportunity."
Now, Johnson and Bailey are ordered not to have contact with each other — even as filming for the VH1 show is scheduled to begin this week. They are both to stay in contact with their attorneys and make all their court appearances.
Willie Johnson’s $10,000 cash bond was also reduced today in court to $7,500. LEX 18 also learned that Johnson has an additional misdemeanor bond in Indiana, where he was charged with theft, fraud, criminal mischief, and unauthorized entry to a motor vehicle.
