FEDS: MARTHA’S VINEYARD MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO ARMED BANK ROBBERY

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS –  [DOJ MEDIA STATEMENT]  –  An Edgartown man pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Boston to armed bank robbery and conspiracy offenses. Miquel Antonio Jones, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery, and one count of armed bank robbery and aiding and abetting. U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young scheduled sentencing for Dec. 2, 2024. In March 2023, Jones was indicted by a federal grand jury, and additional charges were brought in a superseding indictment in April 2023.  Jones met Omar Johnson, Tevin Porter, and allegedly Romane Clayton, in Martha’s Vineyard on Nov. 16, 2022 to plan the robbery. Jones identified the bank they would be robbing and provided the others with dark-colored clothing and plastic masks that resembled an elderly man with exaggerated facial features. On the morning of Nov. 17, 2022, Porter, Jones and Johnson forced their way through the rear door of the Rockland Trust Bank in Tisbury. The men were armed with two semi-automatic handguns and wearing the clothes and masks that Jones had provided. Once inside the bank, one of the individuals held a gun to the head of one of the bank employees, forced the employee to open the bank’s vault, and took approximately $39,100. The bank employees were bound with duct tape and plastic zip ties while their belongings were searched and the robbers demanded access to one of their vehicles.  Jones, Porter and Johnson then left the bank in an employee’s car, allegedly picked up Clayton outside the bank, and drove to the Manuel Correllus State Forest, where they abandoned the vehicle in a parking lot. They then fled in another vehicle that Clayton allegedly had left there for purposes of their escape. Porter and Clayton allegedly left Martha’s Vineyard together on a ferry later that morning. Meanwhile, Johnson and Jones drove to a local farm associated with Jones’s landscaping job to dispose of the equipment that had been used during the bank robbery. At the farm, they allegedly buried the two firearms used in the robbery in a hole in the ground and burned the remainder of the robbery equipment, including the plastic masks. After the evidence was disposed of, Jones returned home to his residence where he hid the approximately $39,100 that had been stolen from the bank, in his bedroom under a bureau. Johnson left Martha’s Vineyard, reconvened with Porter, and allegedly Clayton, in Woods Hole and then drove them to the area of Johnson’s home in New Hampshire. Johnson and Porter have both pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Clayton is scheduled to plead guilty on Sept. 12, 2024. The charge of armed bank robbery provides for a sentence of up to 25 years in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case. Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today.  Valuable assistance was provided by Cape & Islands District Attorney’s Office; the Massachusetts State Police; the Tisbury, West Tisbury, Edgartown, Chilmark, Oak Bluffs, Aquinnah, Canterbury (N.H.) and New Haven (Conn.) Police Departments; the United States Postal Inspection Service; the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and United States Customs and Border Protection. Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan C. Cleary of the Criminal Division is prosecuting the case.         The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. [PHOTO: Surveillance image from morning of the bank robbery]