US: Money launderer for gang gets 9 years

The high-level member of the Shotgun Crips took a plea deal for laundering profits from Twin Cities drug deals.

A high-ranking member of the Shotgun Crips gang who used casino gambling and fraudulent real estate deals to launder the profits from Twin Cities drug deals was sentenced Thursday to nine years in prison.
Lemarc John Harrell -- also known as "Uzi" -- pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money from the sale of cocaine in exchange for the dismissal of a cocaine distribution conspiracy charge. His plea agreement called for the forfeiture of a Minneapolis townhouse valued at $755,000, $70,000 in proceeds from the sale of a Brooklyn Park property, a Land Rover that he bought in October 2005 for $75,000, nearly 72 carats in diamond jewelry, $11,405 in currency, and several watches. In addition, he paid Hennepin County restitution of $24,082.

Harrell was the last of 10 members of the Shotgun Crips who in the past two years have been tried in federal court or have pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from a Twin Cities drug trafficking operation. They are serving federal prison sentences ranging from 2½ years to 13 years.

U.S. District Judge Michael Davis told Harrell, 34, that he was obviously bright and could have made better choices in his life. "Selling drugs for profit is probably the worst thing you possibly do because you're poisoning the whole community ... just for a profit," Davis said.

He observed that Harrell had obviously figured out how to buy and sell real estate. Noting the many infomercials on TV by people who got rich that way, Davis suggested that Harrell consider real estate as a career when he is released. "You would be a poster child for that."

Harrell would have to change his methods, however.

According to a search warrant affidavit filed by an Internal Revenue Service investigator, Harrell bought and sold properties under other people's names and used fraudulent loan documents to complete the transactions.

Several witnesses told authorities that Harrell was a major cocaine distributor who bought drugs in Los Angeles and drove them to the Twin Cities, where he allegedly sold them out of his mother's garage and from a clothing store he and a partner owned in Minneapolis.

The owner of the clothing store denied in an interview Thursday that Harrell had any ownership in the business or that cocaine was ever sold there.

Ties to bar?

One witness told investigators that he believed that Harrell had bought into a nightclub with money he had won gambling in Las Vegas, and that Harrell was trying to go legit. Another witness said he believed that Harrell owned the Spirell Bar in the 100 block of N. 4th Street in Minneapolis.

The bar was created May 4, 2004, under the name of Mike Spicer Foods Ltd.

Spicer, a real estate agent, denied in an interview Thursday that Harrell had an ownership interest. Spicer said he had owned the bar, which closed about three months ago, with Harrell's sister, Sara Harrell. The affidavit says that she was listed on a document as vice president.

Investigators backed their case against Harrell with credit card, bank and property records and with utility and security bills recovered from the trash outside his properties. They found that Harrell had "structured" his payments on large purchases by buying money orders and cashier checks in smaller chunks to avoid currency reporting requirements.

Harrell conducted several large transactions under the name of his sister, including the 2004 purchase of a Minneapolis townhouse for $728,169. Federal prosecutors agreed not to pursue criminal charges against Sara Harrell as part of the plea bargain, but did not bind state authorities from doing so.

Lemarc Harrell also cheated taxpayers by failing to file personal or business tax returns for the years 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004, and by enrolling for medical welfare assistance from Hennepin County in 2004 when he had substantial sums of cash in the bank.

U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose said in a prepared statement that the government is pleased with the sentence. "Disrupting drug trafficking enterprises operated by violent street gangs is a priority of the U.S. Department of Justice, and these large-scale criminal enterprises are especially suited to federal prosecution," she said.

The case resulted from a two-year Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew R. Winter.

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