Larry Lawton

Lawrence Robert Lawton (born October 3, 1961) is an American ex-convict, author, paralegal, motivational speaker, and YouTuber. Lawton gained notoriety for committing a string of jewelry store robberies along the Atlantic Seaboard prior to his arrest in 1996. He spent 12 years in prison, and once released, began a career as a motivational speaker, life coach, and author. He has acted as a spokesman for prisoners and prisoner issues, been a vocal advocate for prison reform, and made appearances in the media as an expert on robberies.

Early life Lawton was born in North Hempstead, New York on October 3, 1961. His first encounter with organized crime was through his father, a metal worker who delivered bribes to the New York mafia. and took part in the Mariel boatlift. In 1983, having earned his GED, he left the Coast Guard and began engaging in criminal activity, mostly loan sharking and bookmaking.

Criminal career Lawton executed his first robbery when he was 28, an inside job to collect insurance money. He then began robbing jewelry stores along the Atlantic Coast, At one point, he purchased an Italian pizza restaurant in North Lauderdale, Florida, which he later burned down as part of an insurance fraud.

Capture In May 1994, three males robbed a jewelry store in Daytona Beach, Florida, netting $500,000 (over $1,000,000 in 2024) worth of gold and diamonds. Then in October 1994, four individuals robbed a jewelry store in Palm Bay, Florida. The two store owners were bound while two individuals robbed the store and a third acted as a lookout and the other as the getaway driver. The robbers took $480,000 ($910,600.81 in 2022) worth of gold and diamonds making it the biggest robbery in the city's history.

In 1996, there was a robbery of a jeweler in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania. The robbers had been there the day before and returned asking about a ring. The robbers drew what police at the time believed were firearms, and restrained the store owner. The store owner managed to break free and grabbed a .38 caliber pistol and fired five shots at the robbers as they fled. One bullet narrowly missed Lawton, but struck his brother. Lawton was arrested by the FBI on December 2, 1996, in Florida and charged with the Fairless Hills armed robbery. Fingerprint evidence connected Lawton to the October 1994 Palm Bay heist, and he was charged with that crime as well. Lawton later claimed that he was the biggest jewel thief of the 1980s and 90s operating within the United States of America. He received an additional sentence in 2002 for giving false witness. He was incarcerated in many prisons during his sentence, which included Jesup in Georgia, Riker's Island in New York, Edgefield in South Carolina, and Yazoo City in Mississippi. Lawton says he regrets his time spent in prison, because he missed out on seeing his children grow up; his grandmother died, and his father became afflicted with Alzheimer's disease while he was inside.

Post-release Reality Check program After release he went to Palm Bay, Florida and started LL Research and Consulting and met a business partner. The program is four hours long. In 2009, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office spent $4500 on 500 DVDs from the Reality Check program. The DVDs contained condensed versions of Lawton's program and were 67 minutes long. In 2009 the Rockledge Florida police used the DVDs as part of a community policing project with the money to buy the DVDs procured through asset forfeiture. By 2010, Lawton had shipped 10,000 DVDs across the country. He was the first ex-con to ever become an honorary police officer.

The superintendent of student services at Brevard Public Schools declined to use the program and questioned its effectiveness: "hile the program is well-organized and well-intentioned, it does not follow the scientific evidence-based research guidelines". It also hosts an annual bowling tournament.

Other Lawton is an advocate for prisoners and their rights, and comments on the justice system. He was critical of Brevard County stopping letters to inmates in 2013. He said that some of the recipients could be innocent. Other issues he is concerned with include prison conditions as well as post-release debt loads and their influence on unemployed ex-convicts. Lawton has also shown concern over the prevalence of fentanyl-laced heroin, noting that in the past dealers had tried to sell pure heroin without any additives.

In 2017, he appeared in a middle school in Havelock, North Carolina to explain his prison experiences. His appearance was part of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. He also hosted a local talk radio show. Lawton has a YouTube channel, and he has made videos analyzing heists in movies and video games such as Grand Theft Auto V; he also plays Prison Architect.

Personal life

Religion Lawton identifies both as "spiritual" and agnostic. He has linked his childhood sexual abuse by a Catholic priest to his "negativity" regarding religion, although he has also stated he does not hate religion.

According to Lawton, while he was incarcerated in his early forties, he had an experience where he explicitly heard the words "I have plans for you" while alone in his cell after one of his prison friends hanged himself.

Politics Lawton describes himself as a libertarian, fiscal conservative and "big-time" social liberal.

Hobbies Lawton has described himself as an "avid reader" and "avid writer". He reports having read the Bible five times "as a novel", as well as the Quran and Torah three times each, and "many books on Buddhism".

Works