Bank robbery suspects indicted by grand jury

Three men have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston in connection with the Nov. 17, 2022 armed bank robbery of the Rockland Trust Bank in Tisbury.

A statement from the United States Attorney of Massachusetts, Rachel Rollins, says that Miquel Jones, 39, of Edgartown, and Omar Johnson, 32 of Canterbury, N.H., were indicted on one count each of armed bank robbery and aiding and abetting. Romane Andre Clayton, 21, of Jamaica, was indicted on one count of being an accessory after the fact to armed bank robbery.

Jones, Johnson and Clayton will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.

Following the defendants’ initial arrest and charge by criminal complaint in December 2022, Jones and Johnson have remained in custody and Clayton was released on conditions.

According to the charging documents, on the morning of Nov. 17, three masked and armed individuals forced their way into the rear door of the Rockland Trust Bank in Tisbury. All three were wearing dark colored clothing and white masks resembling an elderly man with exaggerated facial features.

Rollin’s office says that, according to witnesses, each of the individuals were allegedly carrying what appeared to be semi-automatic handguns. Video surveillance also showed that one of the individuals was carrying what appeared to be a walkie-talkie.

The district attorney’s statement reads that once inside the bank, one of the individuals allegedly held a gun to the head of one of the bank employees and forced him to open the bank’s vault. It is further alleged that the individuals entered the vault and took approximately $39,100, before bounding the employees with duct tape and plastic zip ties, then demanded access to one of their vehicles, and leaving the premises in an employee’s car.  A short time after the robbery, the stolen car was located in a parking lot about 2 miles from the bank and determined that, minutes after the robbery, the individuals allegedly left the parking lot in another vehicle.

Additionally, according to the charging documents, during a search of a farm used by a local landscaping company that employs Jones, a glove, paper money band, zip tie and multiple rubber band – items consistent with the bank robbery – were recovered. The press release from the attorney’s office says that during the search, investigators observed 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.

Within a few feet of the burned area two semi-automatic handguns loaded with 9mm ammunition were discovered buried inches under the ground, the release states. These items, including the handguns, were consistent with items possessed by the robbers during the robbery of the Rockland Trust bank.

According to surveillance video obtained from the Steamship Authority ferry terminal in Vineyard Haven, it is alleged that less than 40 minutes after the robbery – at approximately 8:58 a.m. on Nov. 17, 2022 – Clayton was captured arriving in a silver sedan to a parking lot nearby the ferry terminal, parking the vehicle, purchasing ferry tickets and boarding a ferry at 9:21 a.m. Approximately 30 minutes later, at 9:53 a.m., Johnson is allegedly seen arriving to the same parking lot and getting into the driver’s seat of the silver sedan Clayton had previously arrived in and parked before boarding a ferry. It is further alleged that Johnson is later seen in the surviellance driving the silver sedan to the vehicle reservation clerk booth, purchasing a vehicle ferry ticket and boarding a freight ferry in the silver sedan at 12:24 p.m.

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 being an accessory after the fact to armed bank robbery provides for a sentence of up to 150 months in prison, five 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.