Four individuals have been charged after a Cumberland County human trafficking investigation. The Camp Hill Police Department charged Raynard Lamar Spence, 31, of Hallandale Beach, Florida with Involuntary Servitude, Trafficking in Individuals – Recruit/entice/solicit/etc., and Trafficking in Individuals – Financial Benefit, among other theft-related charges. The Department charged Ronisha Shantavia Gamble, 37, of Hallandale Beach, Florida with multiple conspiracy charges including Involuntary Servitude, Trafficking in Individuals – Recruit/entice/solicit/etc., and Trafficking in Individuals – Financial Benefit, among other conspiracy charges relating to theft. The Department charged Devon Ricardo Stuart, 21, of Fort Myers, Florida with Involuntary Servitude, Trafficking in Individuals – Recruit/entice/solicit/etc., Trafficking in Individuals – Financial Benefit, Kidnapping to Facilitate a Felony, and other conspiracy and theft charges. The Department charged Kevin Lamar Miller, 39, of Lauderdale Lakes, Florida with Involuntary Servitude, Trafficking in Individuals – Recruit/entice/solicit/etc., Trafficking in Individuals – Financial Benefit, and Kidnapping to Facilitate a Felony among other charges relating to conspiracy and theft.
On April 6, 2022, Camp Hill Police say they responded to Mid Penn Bank where they arrived to find a vehicle in the bank drive-through with all four doors open. Police allege that Spence, a woman, and another man left the vehicle in the bank drive-through and entered another vehicle, which they used to flee the scene. The police detained a second woman from Kensington who said she was approached by the group and asked if she wanted drugs. In exchange for the drugs, the woman was told to use stolen checks and a disguise to withdraw money from bank accounts. The Camp Hill Police claim the incident was consistent with a group from Fort Lauderdale, Florida known as the “Felony Lane Gang.”
The Camp Hill Police Department has been investigating the organized crime group Felony Lane Gang along with the FBI, New York State Police, the U.S. Marshals, and local police in Tennessee, Illinois, and Florida since April 2022. The group, originating in the southern United States, is known to break into vehicles and steal bank account information and identification cards. Group members then go to areas with high drug activity to recruit or force individuals to withdraw money from those accounts in exchange for drugs. Through the bank transactions, the group could steal amounts ranging from $2,000 to $20,000 a day.
Spence and Gamble were arrested and booked in Cumberland County. Spence remains in Cumberland County Prison on $1 million bail, and Gamble was released after posting the $49,000 cash bail. Gamble’s formal arraignment is scheduled for February 26, 2024. Miller is currently incarcerated in Georgia and Stuart is currently incarcerated in Tennessee. Both individuals will be extradited to Pennsylvania to face the Camp Hill Police charges.
The CSE Institute applauds Cumberland County for utilizing Pennsylvania’s human trafficking statute in this case. To date, Pennsylvania’s human trafficking statute has been primarily used to address commercial sexual exploitation and allegations of sex trafficking, however, the CSE Institute commends Cumberland County’s use of the statute’s forced labor provisions. The human trafficking statute defines this labor trafficking in individuals as a felony of the second degree when a person recruits, entices, solicits, advertises, harbors, transports, provides, obtains, or maintains an individual if the person knows or recklessly disregards that the individual will be subject to labor servitude. Further, it is a felony of the second degree if the person knowingly benefits financially or receives anything of value from an act which facilities the activity described above.
The CSE Institute commends the collaborative investigative efforts of the Camp Hill Police Department, New York State Police, FBI, U.S. Marshals, and local police in Tennessee, Illinois, and Florida during this operation to combat trafficking. The CSE Institute also commends the Cumberland County Human Trafficking Task Force, which uses a victim-centered approach to cut off the money supply going to human traffickers and identify and arrest individuals who patronize labor and sex trafficked individuals.
The CSE Institute will continue to provide updates on this matter.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or Villanova University.