Two people suspected in multiple bank robberies throughout the Bay Area pleaded guilty to the crime on Thursday, April 17 the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
Dontae Jerome Jones Jr., 20, and JoMya Mauriyne Futch, 21, each pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of bank robbery, and Futch also pleaded guilty to one count of perjury.
On March 13, co-defendant Yasmin Charisse Millett, 22, also pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery.
According to court documents, between June 2023 and September 2024, Jones and Millett conspired to commit at least ten bank robberies in Sacramento, Vallejo, Suisun City, Benicia, Concord, and Antioch.
Jones and Millett worked together and with others– primarily women they recruited such as Futch– to carry out the bank robberies, prosecutors said.
They drove to bank and credit union branches and entered them with threatening notes demanding money, which they presented to branch employees. The defendants took cash and exited the branches to a waiting getaway car.
According to prosecutors, the notes would usually instruct the bank employees to provide money, or “I will kill everyone in here.”
After a successful robbery, the defendants distributed the stolen money amongst themselves, the DOJ said.
“Jones and Millett actively sought and groomed recruits to act as the note passers,” said prosecutors in a statement released by the DOJ. “Millett advertised the conspiracy on Instagram in videos and photographs of herself and other participants holding large amounts of cash.”
On July 17, 2023, Jones and Millett used a stolen white Audi A7 with dark tinted windows to pick up Futch and commit a bank robbery at a credit union in Suisun City, prosecutors said. Jones and Millett provided Futch with instructions on how to commit the robbery, then waited in the car while Futch entered the bank and handed an employee a note demanding money, threatening to shoot the employee if the employee did not comply with the demand. When it was done, all three drove off and split the money.
The next day, law enforcement conducted a traffic stop of the stolen Audi. Millett was driving the car and Jones was the front seat passenger. During the stop, multiple pieces of evidence were found that linked Millet and Jones to bank robberies, such as “bait” money from the bank robbery that occurred the day before in Suisun City. The officers also found a crumpled Post-it note on the driver’s seat that stated, “Don’t Make eye contact Don’t look suspicious Don’t Push emergency Button Put smile on your face or I will shoot.”
On Aug. 15, 2024, Futch appeared as a witness under oath before a grand jury and prosecutors said she “knowingly made false statements.”
During her testimony, Futch stated that on July 17, 2023, she believed that she was going to open up a bank account for Millett–not commit a robbery, prosecutors said.
“Futch further claimed that she had no clue that she was committing a bank robbery, and maintained throughout her testimony that she did not know about any plan to commit a bank robbery,” said the DOJ.
Jones and Futch are scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 7, 2025. They face a maximum of 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine for the bank robbery conviction, according to prosecutors. Futch also faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for her perjury conviction.
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