Former NYRA security guard among two guilty in Aqueduct heist

A former security guard for the New York Racing Association was one of two people found guilty of stealing more than $280,000 from Aqueduct Racetrack in March 2020, with Lafayette Morrison helping pull the inside job due to his knowledge of operations at the track, according to a press release issued from the U.S. attorney’s office of the Eastern District of New York.

Morrison, who at the time of the robbery was employed by NYRA as a security guard, and Lamel Miller were convicted of robbery and brandishing a firearm. Morrison, who pleaded guilty to the robbery in Sept. 2022, was also convicted of obstruction of justice.

When sentenced, each defendant will face sentences of seven years to life in prison.

The robbery occurred at around 10 p.m. on March 7, 2020, the day the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes had been run at Aqueduct.

According to the release, Miller and a co-conspirator held up at gunpoint several racetrack employees - including Morrison - as they were transporting $284,000 to a vault. Miller and the co-conspirator emerged from a hiding spot in a stairwell, confronted the employees and took their cash and cell phones and forced them into a closet.

Miller, 39, and the co-conspirator then went to a hotel, where they divided up the robbery proceeds - each taking $100,000 and later giving $84,000 to Morrison, who had posed as a victim at the time of the robbery, according to the release.

The release said Morrison was instrumental in providing information in advance about where and when the money would be transported to the vault.

“The armed robbery of Aqueduct Racetrack played out like a Hollywood movie heist, but with a bad ending for the defendants who now face steep prison sentences,” U.S. attorney Breon Peace said in the release.

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