U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced William Cordell Johnson, 38 of Port Republic, was sentenced to 217 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. Johnson was found guilty of conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery, using a gun during the robbery and illegal possession of a gun by a convicted felon, in connection with the September 24, 2008 robbery of $169,900 from a bank in St. Mary’s County. During the robbery the bank manager and her two minor children were kidnapped from their residence. Judge Chasanow also ordered Johnson to pay $57,485 in restitution.
According to his guilty plea, Johnson and co-conspirator Joseph Brown devised and arranged a plan to rob a bank on Three Notch Road in California, Maryland. Johnson, Brown and co-conspirator Quinita Ennis, observed the whereabouts of the bank manager, determining the time and route she used to leave her minor children in the care of another, and the procedures used by bank employees to open the bank.
On September 24, 2008, Ennis used her car to drive Brown and Johnson to the bank manager’s residence. Wearing masks and camouflage clothing, with Johnson brandishing a 9 mm rifle Ennis, Brown, and Johnson kidnapped the manager and her two minor children, and drove the family to St. Mary’s County in the manager’s vehicle. Brown then got out of the vehicle and Ennis picked him up.
Johnson ordered the manager to drive to the bank and obtain funds from the bank, while he held the manager’s minor son hostage in her vehicle. The manager’s daughter was released. Johnson took $169,900 from the bank manager and forced the manager to drive him to an elementary school, where the manager and her son were released. Johnson drove the manager’s vehicle to a pharmacy in California, Maryland where he abandoned the vehicle. Brown and Ennis picked him up and Ennis drove them back to Brown’s house.
Later that evening, Johnson, Brown, Ennis and co-defendant Edwin Jones traveled to casinos in New Jersey where they conducted money transactions and gambled tens of thousands of dollars from the bank robbery.
Following the robbery, Brown and Johnson buried the rifle used in the robbery behind a shed in the backyard of Brown’s residence. They purchased safes and buried the safes and $84,000 in the backyard. They attempted to burn camouflage clothing, sunglasses, a stocking hat and gloves used in the robbery.
Also, at Brown’s request, on October 1, 2008, Ennis gave cash to a friend who agreed to purchase plane tickets for Brown, Ennis and Johnson to travel to Las Vegas. The day before and at Brown’s request, Ennis wired $9,000 in stolen bank robbery funds to Brown in North Carolina. Brown told Ennis they would resettle in North Carolina.
Police searched Brown’s home on October 3, 2008 and seized the shotgun and rifle that Ennis had purchased for Brown, safes, and $84,000 buried in the backyard. Police arrested Ennis at work, where they found approximately $16,105 in cash in her purse. Brown and Johnson were arrested in North Carolina, in possession of $7,045 in cash as well as numerous items purchased with bank robbery proceeds.
Quinita Jessie Ennis, age 31, of Lexington Park, Maryland, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery and armed bank robbery, and ordered to pay $57,485 in restitution. Edwin Jonathan Jones, age 41, of Lexington Park, Maryland, pleaded