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Man sentenced for 2022 armed robbery of Martha’s Vineyard bank
Miquel Jones, 33, of Edgartown was indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2023, and additional charges were brought in a superseding indictment in April 2023.
A man who authorities said arranged a 2022 armed bank robbery in Martha’s Vineyard was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, officials announced Wednesday.
Miquel Anthonio Jones, 33, of Edgartown conspired with Omar Odion Johnson, of Canterbury, New Hampshire, Romane Andre Clayton, of Jamaica, and Tevin Porter, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, to commit an armed robbery at the Rockland Trust bank branch in Vineyard Haven in November 2022, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Jones — the only one in the group from Martha’s Vineyard — led the robbery conspiracy, authorities said.
Jones identified the bank they were robbing and bought the materials to make it happen, including “dark-colored clothing, plastic masks that resembled an elderly man with exaggerated facial features, zip ties and duct tape,” according to the statement. Prosecutors said he also paid Johnson to bring a gun.
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On Nov. 16, 2022, Jones met Johnson and Clayton to relay the details about the plan before driving to the Rockland Trust bank, prosecutors said. The men slept at Jones’ residence in Edgartown the night before the robbery.
The next morning, Jones drove the group to the bank. Jones, Johnson, and Porter hid in bushes near the rear of the building while Clayton drove to a state forest nearby to park the car before riding a bicycle back to the bank, the statement noted.
Wearing plastic masks while carrying two handguns, Jones, Johnson, and Porter approached three bank employees and entered the bank through the back door, prosecutors said.
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Inside, one of the men held a gun to one of the employee’s heads and forced them to open the bank’s vault, leading them to take about $39,100, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The bank’s employees were then bound with duct tape and plastic zip ties while the robbers searched their belongings and demanded use of one of their vehicles, prosecutors said.
Jones, Porter, and Johnson left the bank in an employee’s car and picked up Clayton before driving to the Manuel Correllus State Forest, where they left the car in a parking lot. The group fled in the other vehicle that Clayton had left at the same location, according to authorities.
Soon after, officials said, Porter and Clayton left Martha’s Vineyard on a ferry while Jones and Johnson drove to a local farm associated with Jones’ landscaping job to bury the two firearms used in the robbery and burn the rest of the equipment.
Jones then returned to his home where he hid the money in his bedroom under a bureau, authorities said. Johnson left Martha’s Vineyard and met Porter and Clayton in Woods Hole where they drove to the area of Johnson’s home in New Hampshire.
Jones’ 10-year sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release. Jones was indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2023, and additional charges were brought in a superseding indictment in April 2023. Clayton, Johnson, and Porter have each pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy and are scheduled to be sentenced in January.
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“Protecting the people of Massachusetts from criminal conduct comes in many forms, and this case highlights some of the most old-fashioned, blatant and terrifying criminal behavior we face: armed bank robbery,” U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy said in the statement. “This decade-long sentence sends a clear message: such violent and calculated crimes have no place in our communities.”
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