Los Angeles officials announced on Wednesday that three residents of the Antelope Valley had been arrested in connection with an armed robbery that took place earlier this year outside of a Palmdale bank branch. The heist, which a bank security guard allegedly helped organize, occurred as a couple was picking up $200,000 in cash.
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Jerry Wimbley Jr., a 21-year-old Lancaster man, Roman Isaiah Smith, a 24-year-old Lancaster man, and Tyjana Grayes, a 24-year-old Palmdale woman, were taken into custody in connection with the allegations made in a seven-count federal grand jury indictment.
The charges against the three defendants include brandishing a firearm in support of a violent crime, conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, and interference with commerce by robbery. According to the ATF, Wimbley is also charged with three counts of money laundering and being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition.
Wimbley was taken into custody on September 24 and is scheduled to appear in federal court in Los Angeles on October 15. He was previously imprisoned without bond by a federal magistrate judge. Grayes is anticipated to make her first appearance in federal court on Wednesday afternoon, while Smith is being held in custody on state murder charges.
In January, a couple wrote a check for $315,301 at a Palmdale Chase Bank location, according to the indictment. The couple was informed by bank employees that they would have to return to pick up the cash because the bank did not have that much of it. According to the indictment, the bank employee informed the couple that they would be contacted when the cash could be picked up.
A different bank teller is said to have informed Grayes, a Chase Bank security guard, of the planned cash pickup. Prosecutors claim Grayes told Wimbley and Smith about the pickup so they could rob the victims.
