Prosecutors shined more light on the Rockland Trust armed bank robbery as a second suspect appeared in Edgartown district court Friday, saying that police tracked cell phones to recover weapons and masks used in the hold-up and that a man charged in the crime texted about a “mission” the night beforehand.
Omar Johnson, 39, of Canterbury, N.H pleaded not guilty to charges of masked armed robbery and conspiracy in connection to an armed heist of the Vineyard Haven branch of Rockland Trust on Nov. 17.
Mr. Johnson, who was arrested in New Haven, Conn., was extradited to Martha’s Vineyard on Thursday and arraigned in Edgartown district court Friday. The Hon. Benjamin Barnes set his bail at $300,000.
Miquel Jones, 30, of Edgartown was previously arraigned on charges of being an accessory to the crime after the fact, but prosecutors upgraded those charges Thursday. He now faces identical charges as Mr. Johnson, and is being held at the Edgartown jail on $300,000 bail as he awaits his arraignment on the heightened charges.
In court Friday, Cape and Islands assistant district attorney Michael Giardino provided new details of the investigation into events that unfolded in the moments both before and after the Nov. 17 heist. He described how police tracked phones, found suspicious text messages and Google searches and ultimately recovered weapons and masks used in the robbery that implicated Mr. Jones and Mr. Johnson.
The investigation began when police responded to an 8:15 a.m. call of an armed robbery at the bank tucked on the normally quiet west side of the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road.
“They learned from a number of employees and victims that three masked individuals pushed them through the door when they came to enter in the morning,” Mr. Giardino told the court. “As a result, the bank was robbed. The suspects made off with a significant amount of U.S. currency. The employees and victims also said that they were bound by duct tape and plastic restraints.”
Mr. Giardino said the alleged assailants, including Mr. Johnson and Mr. Jones, fled in a stolen vehicle and abandoned it in a parking lot near the Manuel F. Correllus state forest. Through surveillance video, police determined that a 2007 Hyundai Elantra owned by Mr. Johnson had left the area in which the vehicle was abandoned, Mr. Giardino said.
On Friday, Nov. 18, police identified and pulled over the vehicle, which was being operated by Mr. Jones. In a conversation with police, Mr. Jones admitted to being with Mr. Johnson on Martha’s Vineyard on Nov. 16 and Nov. 17, and that he had been driving the Hyundai Elantra on the morning of the robbery.
Surveillance video also showed that shortly after the robbery, Mr. Johnson arrived at the Vineyard Haven Stop & Shop parking lot in the Hyundai Elantra, Mr. Giardino said. Video then shows Mr. Johnson exiting the car and entering a silver sedan, which police identified as the vehicle he drove to Martha’s Vineyard from New Hampshire, according to Mr. Giardino.
Mr. Jones agreed to let police look at his cell phone, Mr. Giardino said.
“In his cell phone, they found text messages of significance,” Mr. Giardino said. “Text messages sent on the evening of November 16 said, ‘Just came in from Jomo, babe. I’ll call you in the morning. We on a little mission, so our calls won’t go through until night, ok.’”
“Police confirmed that Jomo is his nickname for Mr. Johnson, the defendant before you today,” he said.
Deleted Google search history on Mr. Jones’s phone also called for “security measures at a bank” and “security measures used to combat bank robbery,” Mr. Giardino said.
After Mr. Johnson was arrested in Connecticut, he told police that he was on the Island and with Mr. Jones on Nov. 16 and Nov. 17, and that the pair met up with another individual, he said. Only two men have been charged in the robbery so far.
Rockland Trust at the morning of the robbery.
— Ray Ewing
Mr. Johnson also told police he drove back to New Hampshire with one or two more individuals on Nov. 17, the prosecutor said.
“Officers indicated in the report that they believe him to be evasive or deceptive answering questions,” Mr. Giardino continued.
Law enforcement also tracked Mr. Jones and Mr. Johnson’s cell phone locations on the day of the robbery, ultimately using the data to find masks, firearms and burnt plastic strips consistent with materials and weapons used in the heist, Mr. Giardino said.
The two phones started tracking together on the evening of Nov. 16, and then tracked Mr. Jones and Mr. Johnson to an area nearby the back of the Rockland Trust on the morning of Nov. 17, the prosecutor said. Shortly after the robbery, the phones started moving to an area where Mr. Jones works, Mr. Giardino said. Prosecutors have said that Mr. Jones is a landscaper.
Conducting a search at that site, police “found masks, they found what appeared to be burnt plastic strips, items consistent with a duffel bag that was used during the course of the robbery. And then a short distance away from there, they found two firearms that match the description of the ones that were used during the course of the robbery,” he continued.
Phones then tracked Mr. Johnson to the Steamship Authority, where surveillance video shows him using Mr. Jones’s profile identification to get on the ferry, Mr. Giardino said.
Mr. Giardino requested $500,000 bail for Mr. Johnson in court, as well as conditions that he surrender his passport and receive a GPS and stay-away order from the bank and its staff. Both Mr. Jones and Mr. Johnson are Jamaican citizens.
“Mr. Johnson is regarded as a principal, or a robber, at this point,” Mr. Giardino said.
Janice Bassil, a Boston-based defense attorney who represented Mr. Johnson in court, disputed a number of the findings Friday, providing her client’s narrative of events.
According to Ms. Bassil, Mr. Johnson submitted to five hours of police interrogation, and adamantly denied being involved in the robbery throughout the length of the questioning. She also said that Mr. Jones has denied being involved in the robbery during questioning.
Ms. Bassil said Mr. Jones was romantically involved with Mr. Johnson’s sister, explaining their relationship. She said that Mr. Johnson came to Martha’s Vineyard to clear up a dispute regarding the manner in which Mr. Jones had been treating his sister, not to rob a bank, and that the text messages sent from Mr. Jones’s phone could have a variety of interpretations.
“He told the police that he did come to Martha’s Vineyard,” Ms. Bassil said. “He came to Martha’s Vineyard to discuss Mr. Jones’s behavior and treatment of Mr. Johnson’s sister, which, in his opinion, and the family’s opinion, was not entirely good, and he wanted to discuss it with him face to face. As I said, he adamantly denies being involved in any kind of bank robbery.”
Ms. Bassil also questioned the relevance of evidence used in the case.
“The Commonwealth did not say that the [technology] tracked my client’s phone to the bank, or the location of the bank, on the morning and robbery,” Ms. Bassil said. “And…while I can’t comment on Mr. Jones, it appears much of the information appears to be tied to him, more than to Mr. Johnson.”
Ms. Bassil said Mr. Johnson was the principal caregiver of his two young children, and that his wife in New Hampshire is a licensed nursing assistant. She said his family had been evicted from their apartment after the charges against Mr. Johnson became public.
Judge Barnes set bail at $300,000. Ms. Bassil filed a motion for discovery, which was set for Dec. 15. A probable cause hearing was set for Dec. 29.
Mr. Jones is scheduled to be arraigned on the armed masked robbery charges on Dec. 12 in Edgartown district court.
The Cape and Islands district attorney’s office, which is overseeing the robbery investigation, is continuing to a search for a third suspect.
