The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Monday that a third man will be charged in connection with the armed robbery of a Martha’s Vineyard bank last month, during which employees were tied down with duct tape and plastic restraints.
Romane Andre Clayton, who is 21 years old and from Jamaica, was picked up in Connecticut on Friday and charged with one count of helping rob an armed bank after the fact. He will show up in Boston’s federal court at a later date.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston arrested and charged two other men, Miquel A. Jones and Omar Odion Johnson, on December 1. Jones and Johnson are still being held by the state on charges that are related.
source: boston25news
According to the charges, on the morning of November 17, three people with guns and masks broke into the Rockland Trust bank in Tisbury through the back door. All three suspects were dressed in dark clothes and wore white masks that made them look like old men with big faces.
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Witnesses say that each of the suspects was carrying what looked like a semi-automatic handgun. Surveillance video also showed that one of the suspects had what looked like a walkie-talkie in his hand.
Once inside the bank, one of the suspects allegedly put a gun to the head of a bank employee and forced him to open the vault. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the suspects broke into the vault and stole about $39,100. They then tied the employees up with duct tape and plastic zip ties, demanded access to one of their vehicles, and drove away in an employee’s car.
The stolen car was found in a parking lot about 2.3 miles from the bank, not long after the robbery. The suspects allegedly left the parking lot in another car a few minutes later.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Jones and Johnson were named as suspects in the charging documents. Investigators later found three $100 bills and clothes that looked like those worn by the robbers in Jones’ car. They also found a black handgun in Johnson’s house and papers that showed a money transfer to Jamaica for about $700 and cash deposits at a bank in Connecticut for $4,100 in Johnson’s car.
According to the charging documents, investigators also looked at a Tisbury farm used by a local landscaping company that employs Jones. There, they found a glove, a paper money band, a zip tie, and several rubber bands, all of which were consistent with the bank robbery.
During the search, investigators found burnt pieces of nylon, white metal plastic that looked like it came from a white mask, burnt pieces of a walkie-talkie, an antennae, batteries, and metal pieces that looked like they came from a duffle bag zipper.
Investigators found two semi-automatic handguns loaded with 9mm bullets and buried just a few inches deep near the burned area. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that these items, including the handguns, were similar to those used by the suspects when they robbed the Rockland Trust bank.
Less than 40 minutes after the robbery, at around 8:58 a.m. on Nov. 17, surveillance video from the Steamship Authority ferry terminal in Vineyard Haven shows Clayton driving a silver sedan to a parking lot near the ferry terminal, parking the car, buying ferry tickets, and boarding a ferry at 9:21 a.m.
At 9:53 a.m., about 30 minutes later, surveillance video shows Johnson allegedly pulling into the same parking lot and getting into the driver’s seat of the same silver sedan Clayton had driven there and parked before getting on a ferry. Surveillance video shows that at 12:24 p.m., Johnson drove the silver sedan to the vehicle reservation clerk’s booth, bought a vehicle ferry ticket, and drove the silver sedan onto a freight ferry.
Jones was arrested on November 19 for being an accomplice after the fact. He was later charged in Edgartown District Court with armed and disguised bank robbery.
On November 25, the Edgartown District Court issued a criminal complaint and a warrant against Johnson, accusing him of robbing the Rockland Trust bank while wearing a mask and carrying a gun. Johnson was found and taken into custody by the state in New Haven, Connecticut. The investigation is still going on and is not over yet.
For helping rob an armed bank after the fact, you could get up to 150 months in prison, five years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.
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