Cape Cod Incidents/CWN
TISBURY – A superseding indictment has been filed in Boston in connection with the Nov. 17, 2022 armed bank robbery of the Rockland Trust Bank in Tisbury, Mass.
Miquel Antonio Jones, 31, of Edgartown, Mass. and Tevin Porter, 27 of Bridgeport, Conn., were charged in a superseding indictment with one count each of conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery, and one count of armed bank robbery and aiding and abetting. Romane Andre Clayton, 21, of Jamaica, was also charged in the superseding indictment with one count of bank robbery and aiding and abetting. Jones and Clayton will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date. Following an initial appearance yesterday in federal court in Connecticut, Porter was detained pending a 11:30 a.m. hearing tomorrow.
Jones and Clayton were initially arrested and charged by criminal complaint in December 2022. Jones and Clayton were subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury along with alleged co-conspirator Omar Johnson on March 16, 2023.
“These defendants terrorized and spread panic across the communities of Martha’s Vineyard, and we have now charged a fourth person involved,” said United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins. “We believe these men worked together in an armed bank robbery that involved at least two deadly semi-automatic firearms – one of which was held to an employee’s head – and went to great lengths in attempt to conceal their involvement. Massachusetts residents deserve to live and work without fear. We will hold violent individuals accountable, particularly when they use firearms during their crimes.”
“Today, the FBI arrested the fourth member of a crew that is accused of committing a violent armed bank robbery on Martha’s Vineyard, which terrorized innocent bank tellers and bystanders just trying to go about their daily lives. It’s incredibly fortunate no one was hurt,” said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division. “Bank robbery is not an easy payday, it is a federal crime, and FBI Boston’s Violent Crimes Task Force and our law enforcement partners will do everything in our power to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice, like we did in this case.”
According to the charging documents, 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 allegedly armed with at least two semi-automatic handguns and wearing dark colored clothing and white masks that resembled an elderly man with exaggerated facial features. Once inside the bank, one of the individuals allegedly held a gun to the head of one of the bank employees, forced that employee to open the bank’s vault and took approximately $39,100. It is alleged that 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.
The charging documents further allege that Jones, Porter and Johnson then left the bank premises in an employee’s car and drove to the Manuel Correllus State Forest, where they abandoned the vehicle in a parking lot and fled in another vehicle that had been left there for purposes of their escape. It is also alleged that Porter and Clayton then left Martha’s Vineyard together on a ferry later that morning.
Meanwhile, Johnson and Jones allegedly drove to a local farm with the equipment that had been used during the bank robbery. It is alleged that, at the farm, two firearms used in the robbery were found buried in a hole in the ground and the remainder of the robbery equipment, including the plastic masks, were found burned.
After the evidence was disposed of, Jones returned home to his residence where he allegedly hid the approximately $39,100 that had been stolen from the bank, in his bedroom under a bureau. It is further alleged that Johnson left Martha’s Vineyard, reconvened with Porter and Clayton in Woods Hole, Mass. and then drove together to the area of Johnson’s home in New Hampshire.
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. The charge of bank robbery provides for a sentence of up to 20 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.
U.S. Attorney Rollins and FBI SAC Bonavolonta made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by United States Postal Inspection Service; Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; United States Customs and Border Protection; Massachusetts State Police; Cape & Islands District Attorney’s Office; and the Tisbury, West Tisbury, Edgartown, Chilmark, Oak Bluffs, Aquinnah, Canterbury (N.H.) and New Haven (Conn.) Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meghan C. Cleary and Kenneth G. Shine of Rollins’ Major Crimes Unit are prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
