An Edgartown man was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Boston for arranging an armed bank robbery on Martha’s Vineyard in 2022, federal authorities said.
Miquel Antonio Jones, 33, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy said.
Jones was indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2023 and more charges were placed on him in a superseding indictment in April 2023, Levy said.
Jones 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 a Rockland Trust bank in Vineyard Haven on Nov. 17, 2022, Levy said.
Jones led the robbery since he was the only one from the Vineyard, Levy said. He chose the bank they’d rob, obtained and provided all the necessary items for the robbery to the other men — including dark-colored clothing, plastic masks that made them look like old men, zip ties and duct tape — and chose when to rob the bank. He also paid Johnson to bring a gun, Levy said.
Jones met Johnson and Clayton on Martha’s Vineyard and told them about the plan before driving himself and the others to Rockland Trust bank, Levy said. He told them about the bank and its security level. The men slept at Jones’ home in Edgartown the night before they robbed the bank.
Jones drove the men to the bank on Nov. 17, 2022, Levy said. Jones, Johnson and Porter hid in the bushes near the back of the bank while Clayton drove to a nearby state forest to park the car, before bicycling back to the bank.
As the bank’s three workers came in that morning, Jones, Johnson and Porter, who were all wearing the plastic masks and carrying guns, walked up to them and forced their way through the back door, Levy said.
One of the men held a bank employee at gunpoint, forced them to open the bank’s vault and stole around $39,100, Levy said.
“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,” Levy said.
Jones, Porter and Johnson left the bank in a worker’s car, picked up Clayton outside the bank and then drove to the Manuel Correllus State Forest, Levy said. They left the car in a parking lot. They then drove away in another car that Clayton left there to escape.
Porter and Clayton left Martha’s Vineyard together on a ferry, Levy said. In the meantime, Jones and Johnson drove to a farm on the island associated with Jones’ landscaping job to get rid of the items used in the robbery.
“At the farm, they 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,” Levy said.
Jones went back to his home where he hid the nearly $39,100 that he stole from the back in his bedroom under a bureau, Levy said. He left Martha’s Vineyard and touched back with Porter and Clayton in Woods Hole in Falmouth, and then drove them to near Johnson’s home in New Hampshire.
