NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Prosecutors will extradite a New Hampshire man who they have charged with robbing the Vineyard Haven Rockland Trust branch in an armed heist, after state police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested him during a car stop in Connecticut this weekend.
Omar Johnson, 39, of Canterbury, N.H. appeared in the New Haven County courthouse Monday, charged with masked armed robbery with a firearm and conspiracy to commit armed robbery with a firearm in connection with an armed bank robbery that occurred at the Rockland Trust branch in Vineyard Haven on Nov. 17.
Mr. Johnson voluntarily waived extradition in court Monday, meaning that state prosecutors can transport him to Massachusetts within the next month. The Hon. Brian Fischer set Mr. Johnson’s bail at $250,000, which he said was “based on the seriousness of the charges.”
“I did review [the file] to make a finding of probable cause,” Judge Fischer said.
The arrest occurred at 8:00 p.m. Friday, Nov. 25 after a car stop in New Haven, Conn., according to a statement from the Cape and Islands district attorney’s office. A spokesman for the district attorney’s office said that the state police, Tisbury police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Connecticut state police were all involved in the arrest.
According to documents filed in court Monday, an FBI agent named F. Grillo and the state police put out a warrant for Mr. Johnson’s arrest earlier on Friday. Police then started looking for a white Honda CRV with “PAMPI” on the New Hampshire license plate, the report states.
Police located and stopped the vehicle at the intersection of Crescent and Fournier streets near the Newhalville area of New Haven, a report from the New Haven police department states. A photo of Mr. Johnson provided by the state police confirmed that Mr. Johnson was operating the vehicle. He was taken into custody without incident, according to the report.
Mr. Johnson is currently being held at the New Haven police department. He is the first person to be charged with armed robbery in connection with the heist, which occurred early in the morning of Nov. 17 when three armed robbers wearing Halloween masks ambushed staff just before the Rockland Trust opened off the Vineyard Haven-Edgartown Road.
The robbers bound bank personnel with duct tape and plastic ties before leaving with an undisclosed amount of money in a vehicle stolen from one of the tellers, according to police.
A second individual, Miquel Jones, 30, of Edgartown, was arrested late last week after police said he drove a getaway vehicle used by the robbers. He was arraigned on Monday on one count of being an accessory to an armed robbery. He is currently being held in the Edgartown jail on $300,000 bail.
The robbery spurred a dramatic police manhunt that stretched across the Vineyard Sound to Cape Cod, as Island police departments, the state police and a special division of the FBI all followed leads for the robbers. Nothing turned up until last weekend, when police said they were able to use surveillance video and witnesses to track down Mr. Jones.
Mr. Jones, a Jamaican citizen who gave an Edgartown address, was arrested on Island after a traffic stop, according to the district attorney’s office. Police said that they found black clothing, duct tape and three, $100 bills in his vehicle, two of which had sequential serial numbers. Mr. Jones admitted to his vehicle being parked near where the robbers dropped off the stolen car soon after the bank hold-up, a prosecutor said during his arraignment Monday.
District attorney spokesman Tara Miltimore said in the statement Saturday that Tisbury police, state police and the FBI are continuing to investigate the incident.
In court Monday, prosecutors provided no new details about the crime, which marked the first armed bank robbery on the Island in decades.
Mr. Johnson, like Mr. Jones, is a Jamaican citizen, according to court documents. A bail officer said that he has resided in New Hampshire for the past two years and is currently unemployed.
Judge Fischer set Mr. Johnson's next court date as Jan. 3, 2023.
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