A federal grand jury last month indicted three Northern California residents, charging them with conspiracy to commit bank robbery and bank robbery in the East Bay, including Solano County, and Sacramento, a Department of Justice official announced.
U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert said a federal grand jury on Sept. 26 returned a five-count indictment against Dontae Jones Jr., 20, and Yasmin Millett, 21, both living in Northern California with no fixed address, and JoMya Mauriyne Futch, 21, of Richmond. Futch was additionally charged with one count of perjury.
The indictment was unsealed Wednesday following the defendants’ arrests, Talbert said in a press statement.
According to court documents, between June 2023 and September, Jones and Millett conspired to commit at least 10 bank robberies in Vallejo, Suisun City, Benicia, Concord, Antioch and Sacramento.
Jones and Millett worked together and with others, primarily women they recruited, such as Futch, to facilitate a patterned series of bank robberies, according to Talbert.
The participants allegedly drove to bank and credit union branches, entered the branches with threatening notes demanding money, presented the notes to branch employees, took cash, and exited the branches to a waiting getaway car. Generally, the notes would instruct the bank employees to provide money or “I will kill everyone in here,” wording in the prepared statement indicated.
On at least one occasion, a woman was held at gunpoint and forced to commit a robbery by Jones and Millett against her will. On another occasion, Jones and Millett used a minor in an attempted robbery. After a successful robbery, the members of the conspiracy distributed the stolen money among themselves.
Jones and Millett are alleged to have actively sought and groomed recruits to act as the note-passers, advertised the conspiracy on Instagram in videos and photographs of herself and other participants holding large amounts of cash.
Also, Jones and Millett sometimes directed recruits to wear dark sunglasses during the robberies to conceal their identities and carry purses in order to carry the stolen money away from the banks and credit unions.
Futch allegedly joined the conspiracy and conspired to commit at least two bank robberies. She is additionally charged with perjury. On Aug. 15, Futch appeared as a witness under oath before a grand jury and knowingly made false statements.
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The case stems from an investigation by FBI field offices in San Francisco and Sacramento, with help from the Vacaville, Suisun City, Vallejo, Benicia, Antioch, Concord, Hayward, Fremont and Sacramento police departments, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, and the California Highway Patrol.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Whitnee Goins is prosecuting the case. It was unclear from the press statement if any of the indicted defendants have attorneys.
If convicted of conspiracy to commit bank robbery, the defendants face a maximum prison term of five years in prison and a fine up to $250,000. The bank robbery counts carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Futch faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if she is convicted of perjury.
Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court and federal sentencing guidelines, which take into account a number of variables, Talbert said.