5 New York men charged in Alabama with giving homeless Connecticut people drugs to commit crimes

Five New York men are jailed in Alabama, accused of plying two homeless people from Connecticut with drugs and the promise of money to commit crimes in multiplies cities throughout the state and beyond.

Leeds police on Friday announced the arrests of the five men on human trafficking charges. All five remain held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail.

The investigation began Sept. 4 when Leeds police were called to Millennial Bank on Parkway Drive on a report of a man making fraudulent withdrawals using fake documents, said Leeds police Chief Paul Irwin.

Once police arrived, the man fled but was captured after a short pursuit.

Special Investigations Unit detectives learned the man was working at the direction of three men from New York. It was determined the male was homeless and lived in Hartford.

The suspects were identified as Jaylen Scott-King, 27, Omari Daeshaun Cunningham, 24, and Jeffrey Sajay Smith, 24.

Later in the investigation, and with the assistance of the Homewood Police Department, detectives determined there were two additional men from New York in the operation and they were directing a homeless woman, also from Hartford.

Those suspects were as Belvis Dapaah, 28, and Nana Gyapong, 26.

Irwin said the investigation showed the two homeless people were provided transportation by the suspects to the southeast, including Alabama.

The pair entered numerous banks and made fraudulent withdrawals with fraudulent IDs and passports at the direction of Scott-King, Cunningham, Smith, Dapaah, and Gyapong.

“These two homeless individuals were provided a plethora of illegal narcotics and promised a percentage of the illegally obtained currency, which they were never provided,’’ Irwin said.

It was determined crimes, including fraudulent withdrawals, occurred Leeds, Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Irondale, Birmingham, Pell City, Trussville, Anniston, and Montgomery.

The investigation is still ongoing, and police believe more Alabama cities were involved.

Dapaah and Cunningham were taken into custody with the homeless female on Sept. 5, with the help of Homewood police.

Scott-King, Gyapong and Smith were taken into custody by the FBI after fleeing back to Bronx.

Dapaah is charged with two counts of first-degree human trafficking, trafficking in stolen identities and 12 counts of encoded data fraud.

Cunningham is charged with two counts of first-degree human trafficking, trafficking in stolen identities, obstructing justice using a false identity, first-degree theft, 12 counts of encoded data fraud and tampering with physical evidence.

Scott-King and Smith are charged with two counts of first-degree human trafficking and two counts of first-degree theft.

Gyapong is charged with two counts of first-degree human trafficking.

The two homeless people were provided with assistance to return to Connecticut. Police have not said if they were charged.

This investigation is on-going, and additional charges are pending.

Multiple agencies are investigating including the Homewood, Hoover, Irondale, Vestavia Hills police departments, the Houston County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Oxford Police Department’s East Metro Area Crime Center and the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office.