Woman accused of recruiting on Instagram for California bank robberies agrees to plea deal
A woman accused of being one of the masterminds in a Northern California bank robbery scheme that included recruiting people on Instagram agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors.
Yasmin Charisse Millett, 22, pleaded guilty to a single count of bank robbery for a July 17, 2023, heist at the Credit Union 4 branch in Suisun City, according to the plea agreement filed Wednesday in Sacramento federal court.
Millett, who remains in custody, appeared at a hearing Thursday morning wearing an orange jail inmate uniform. She told the judge that she understood entering her guilty plea meant she was waiving her right to a trial.
Judge Troy L. Nunley scheduled Millett to return to court June 26 for her sentencing hearing. She will face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the bank robbery charge, along with three years of parole and a $250,000 fine.
The judge has sole discretion in determining Millett’s sentence and is under no obligation to agree to recommendations made by the prosecution.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Whitnee Goins told the judge that the prosecution will recommend that the court sentence Millett to the “low end” of the applicable guidelines as determined by the court. The prosecution will dismiss all remaining charges against Millett when she is sentenced.
The judge has sole discretion in determining Millett’s sentence and is under no obligation to agree to recommendations made by the prosecution, according to the plea agreement.
A federal grand jury in September indicted Millett; Dontae Jerome Jones Jr., 20; and JoMya Mauriyne Futch, 21, charging them with conspiracy to commit bank robbery and bank robbery, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento announced in an Oct. 9 news release.
Jones and Futch continue to face charges in the alleged bank robbery scheme and remain in custody. They are scheduled to return to court May 1 for further proceedings in their case.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office accused the defendants in a series of heists, including a 2023 bank robbery in Sacramento, in which primarily women were allegedly recruited on Instagram to hand notes demanding money to bank tellers.
From June 2023 through September 2024, Millett conspired with Jones to commit bank robberies, and Millett also conspired with Futch to commit at least two bank robberies, according to the prosecution’s factual basis attached to the filed plea agreement and signed by Millett. The alleged conspiracy targeted banks and credit unions.
On July 17, 2023, Jones, Millett and Futch used a stolen white Audi A7 with dark tinted windows to commit the bank robbery in Suisun City, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors allege that Millett gave Futch instructions on how to commit the bank robbery. Jones and Millett waited in the car while Futch entered the bank and handed a note to the credit union employee, demanding money and threatening to shoot the employee if they did not comply.
The credit union employee then handed the money to Futch, who returned to the waiting getaway car. Prosecutors allege Millett, Jones and Futch each took a portion of the stolen cash.
The following day, law enforcement officials pulled over the stolen white Audi A7 driven by Millett with Jones in the front passenger seat, No one else was in the car.
The filed factual basis said that law enforcement officials found Millett and Jones with bait money stolen from the Credit Union 4 branch in Suisun City. Cash with known serial numbers, also known as bait money, is used to help police track money stolen in bank robberies.
Law enforcement officials also found in the stolen car a crumpled Post-it note that had written on it “Don’t Make eye contact Don’t look suspicious Don’t Push emergency Button Put smile on your face or I will shoot.”
Jones and Millet, who have lived in Northern California motels with no fixed address, were accused of being the masterminds of the bank robbery scheme and recruiting people to present notes demanding cash at banks, according to the Sept. 26 filed indictment.
In addition to the Suisun City heist, prosecutors said Jones and Millett conspired to commit at least 10 bank robberies at eight credit unions and two banks in Sacramento, Vallejo, Benicia, Concord and Antioch and worked with others to carry out the robberies.
Jones and Millett “actively sought and groomed recruits,” including Futch, as “the note passers in the targeted” banks, according to the indictment. Millet allegedly advertised the bank robbery conspiracy in Instagram videos and photographs of herself and other participants holding large amounts of cash.
“Happy Money Makin(sic) Mondays! I got one spot left in a car tap in,” Millett allegedly wrote in the Instagram posts, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors accused Futch of being a recruit who voluntarily joined the conspiracy to act as a note passer on at least two occasions. The indictment said Jones and Millett sometimes directed recruits to wear dark sunglasses at the banks to conceal their identities and encouraged them to carry purses to hold the stolen cash as they left the bank and left in a waiting getaway vehicle.
