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Romane Andre Clayton, 22, of New Haven, was sentenced in a Boston federal court after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting the November 2022 heist at Rockland Trust Bank in Tisbury, the US Attorney for Massachusetts said. Clayton was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.
Federal prosecutors described a chilling robbery where bank employees were ambushed as they opened the building. Wearing masks designed to resemble elderly men and armed with semi-automatic handguns, three of Clayton’s accomplices forced their way inside, holding a gun to one employee's head and binding staff with duct tape and zip ties. The robbers demanded access to the vault and made off with $39,100.
Clayton, the group's lookout, positioned himself outside the bank with a walkie-talkie. After the heist, he joined the others in fleeing to a nearby state forest, where they abandoned a stolen getaway car and escaped in a separate vehicle Clayton had stashed in advance.
The robbery, which left bank employees shaken, was described by investigators as "carefully coordinated and brazen." A federal grand jury indicted Clayton in March 2023, and he pleaded guilty in Sept. 2024.
Clayton’s sentencing comes as federal authorities continue to crack down on violent organized crime in Massachusetts and beyond.
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