Crime

Trio indicted in connection with violent Martha’s Vineyard bank robbery

Prosecutors outlined the trio's plan, wherein they entered the bank with semi-automatic handguns and masks.

By Eli Curwin

March 17, 2023

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Three men were indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston Thursday in connection to the Nov. 17 armed bank robbery of the Rockland Trust Bank in Tisbury, on Martha’s Vineyard, where nearly $40,000 was allegedly stolen.

Using charging documents and video surveillance footage, U.S. prosecutors outlined the trio’s tactical plan, wherein the men entered the bank with semi-automatic handguns and masks to threaten bank employees, before making a staggered escape and burning evidence, the United States Attorney’s office said in a statement.

Miquel Antonio Jones, a 39-year-old from Edgartown, Omar Odion Johnson, a 32-year-old from Canterbury, N.H., and Romane Andre Clayton, a 21-year-old from Jamaica are each facing charges for the Tisbury bank robbery.

Jones and Johnson were each indicted on one count of armed bank robbery and aiding and abetting, which could lead to a fine of $250,000, 25 years in prison, and five years of supervised release. Clayton was indicted on one count of being an accessory after the fact for armed robbery, a possible sentence of 150 months in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.

On the morning of Thursday, Nov. 17, the three men forced their way into the rear door of Rockland Trust Bank wearing dark clothes and masks resembling elderly men, and carrying semi-automatic handguns, prosecutors said. The trio then threatened a bank employee to open the bank’s vault, pressing a gun against the worker’s head. The individuals allegedly took $39,100 before binding the employee with zip-ties and duct tape and forcing him to provide one of the bank’s cars.

The men then allegedly drove the stolen vehicle to a parking lot 2.3 miles away, before switching to a different car.

Forty minutes later, video surveillance from the Steamship Authority ferry terminal shows Clayton allegedly arriving at a nearby ferry terminal in a silver sedan before the other men arrived, each at a different time. By 12:30 p.m., the group had boarded a freight ferry in the silver sedan.

Charging documents show that through a search of Jones’s place of employment, a Tisbury farm used by a local landscaping company, investigators found a glove, a paper money band, zip ties, and multiple rubber bands — all items consistent with the robbery.

Additionally, investigators reportedly found “an area that appeared to have had a recent fire, and found burned pieces of nylon, white metal plastic consistent with a white mask, burned walkie-talkie pieces, an antennae, batteries and pieces of metal consistent with a duffle bag zipper,” with two handguns sitting a few feet away.

The trio will appear in a Boston federal court at a later date.