3 indicted in bank robbery scheme spanning Sacramento, several Bay Area cities
SACRAMENTO — Three Northern California people received a five-count indictment, charged with bank robbery and conspiracy to commit bank robbery in Sacramento and several cities in the San Francisco Bay Area, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The defendants were Dontae Jones, Jr., 20, Yasmin Millett, 21, and Richmond resident JoMya Mauriyne Futch, 21, the U.S. Attorney's Office Eastern District of California said. Jones and Millett are from Northern California but have no fixed addresses.
Between June 2023 and September 2024, Jones and Millett are accused of robbing at least 10 banks across Sacramento, Vallejo, Suisun City, Benicia, Concord and Antioch, prosecutors said. Aside from working together, the pair recruited others to drive to the businesses and deliver threatening notes demanding cash.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Jones and Millett actively sought recruits, mainly women, to act as note passers during the robberies. Millett allegedly even advertised the conspiracy on social media, posting images of herself and other participants holding large amounts of cash.
Jones and Millett, during at least one instance, held a woman at gunpoint and forced her to commit a robbery against her will, prosecutors said. Another instance involved a minor.
Futch was one of those people who were recruited through Instagram, prosecutors said. With the others, she conspired to commit at least two bank robberies. Futch faces an additional charge of perjury after she allegedly lied under both while appearing as a witness before a grand jury on August 15, 2024, prosecutors said.
The maximum sentence for conspiracy to commit bank robbery is five years in prison in addition to up to $250,000 in fines., prosecutors said. For the bank robbery charges, each person could face up to 20 more years in prison and another $250,000 in fines.
For the perjury charge, Futch faces an additional five-year sentence and another $250,000 in fines.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said the indictment was unsealed Wednesday after the three were arrested.