Prostitute Taquanna Lawton [photo],has been charged with grand larceny for stealing a jeep and the service gun of an off-duty police officer trying to engage her services.
A seemingly unimpressed New York prostitute told arresting officers that the NYPD police officer, she had allegedly robbed of an SUV and his service gun was just “a trick,” with whom she done ‘business’ in the past, Brooklyn prosecutors said Friday.
Prostitute Taquanna Lawton, 20, did not shy away from her business relationship with 13-year NYPD veteran Ali Sheppard late Thursday as she was arraigned for stealing the cop’s Jeep and gun when he ran off to an ATM so he could pay for her services.
Lawton also alluded that the pair may have done business before.
“At the police station the defendant asserted she and the complainant knew each other, the complainant was a trick,” Assistant District Attorney Tziyonah Langsam said as Judge Abena Darkeh ordered Lawton held on $25,000 bail. “The defendant and complainant are acquaintances.”
Lawton is charged with grand larceny for fleeing with Sheppard’s idling Jeep Wrangler at the corner of Liberty Ave. and Sackman St. in Brownsville shortly after midnight Tuesday.
Sheppard had just picked up the escort and was about to take her to an East New York hotel when he pulled over to pull some cash from a corner ATM. However, as he put in his pin code, Lawton slipped behind the wheel and sped off with his vehicle, cops said.
“[Sheppard] left the keys in the ignition,” Langsam said.
“When the complainant returned to the vehicle, the defendant and the vehicle were no longer there.”
The off-duty cop’s service pistol was inside the Jeep when Lawton sped off with it.
The weapon hadn’t been recovered as of Friday morning.

Duped and exposed: 13-year NYPD veteran officer Ali Sheppard [photo], allegedly picked up prostitute Taquanna Lawton in Brownsville before she took his car and police-issued gun. Lawton claims they have transacted business in the past
Police found Lawton and the stolen Jeep in Far Rockaway early Wednesday morning.
A second woman was in the Jeep with her, along with a ziplock bag of crystal meth, prosecutors said.
The working girl was taken to the hospital for a check up Thursday night after she told police that she was pregnant.
Cradling an apparent baby bump and sporting a cheetah-print spaghetti strap top, Lawton said very little as she was charged with grand larceny and drug possession.
She was also accused of violating her probation after being released on a stolen property charge in Nassau County. Lawton is on probation until 2023, prosecutors said.
Her attorney Paul Giovanniello said Lawton has mental health and substance abuse issues and the full story of what happened between her and Sheppard has not been told.
“We’re not here to litigate this case,” Giovanniello said. “I’ll leave that to the grand jury.”
When she was arrested, Lawton claimed that another woman was in the Jeep in preparation for a possible threesome with Sheppard, but none of the police reports filed by Sheppard indicate that a second woman was involved, sources with knowledge of the case said.
NYPD announced Wednesday that officer Sheppard has been suspended without pay for 30 days and is facing disciplinary charges.
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