Joseph Franklin Brown, 35, and William Cordell Johnson, 37, were arrested Friday, Oct. 3, by the Raleigh, N.C. Police Department. The two were returned to St. Mary's County and charged on Wed., Oct. 8. (Raleigh Arrest Photos)
LEONARDTOWN, Md. (Oct. 9, 2008)—The two men who were arrested in Raleigh, N.C. last Friday for their part in the Sept. 24 PNC Bank robbery were returned to St. Mary's County on Wednesday. William Cordell Johnson and Joseph Franklin Brown, Jr. were escorted back by detectives with the St. Mary's County Bureau of Criminal Investigations.
Both men have been charged with the following: conspiracy to commit an armed robbery; kidnapping; kidnapping of a child under the age of 16 (2 counts); armed robbery (2 counts); assault in the first degree (3 counts); and theft over $500.
Brown was one of the key suspects in the case. Approximately $100,000 of the $158,000 stolen was recovered from 2 home fire safes buried in Brown's back yard on Indian Bridge Road.
Police say the money that was not recovered was spent by the suspects during a gambling spree in Atlantic City as well as on purchases of clothing and electronics. Police also report that several of the suspects had airline reservations for a trip to Las Vegas.
Brown and Johnson had plans to permanently relocate to Raleigh after the robbery, according to police. The two men had apparently planned a return trip to St. Mary's County to retrieve more of the stolen money, but aborted their plans after they discovered police were on to them.
Both men were incarcerated in the St. Mary's County Detention Center pending an appearance before a District Court Commissioner.
Two other arrests were made last Friday in St. Mary's County.
Quinita Jesse Ennis, 30, of Lexington Park, was taken into custody and charged with 3 counts of kidnapping, first degree assault, armed robbery, theft over $500, and conspiracy.
Edwin Jonathan Jones, 40, of Lexington Park, was taken into custody and charged with 3 counts of kidnapping, first degree assault, armed robbery, theft over $500, conspiracy, and being an accessory before and after the fact.
Jones and Brown were the two key suspects in the case, say investigators. The two allegedly conducted surveillance of the bank and the manager, LaToya Booth, before the robbery and were responsible for the subsequent planning.
On Monday, police said that their investigation will now be focused on investigating co-conspirators before and after the fact. More arrests are possible.
RELATED INFORMATION:
Audio Recording of 06-OCT-2008 Press Conference that details all known facts of the kidnapping and subsequent robbery of the PNC Bank branch.
http://images.somd.com/news/2008/PNC_Robbery_Press_Conf_2008-10-06.edited.wav
Four Arrested in Kidnapping, PNC Bank Robbery, Oct. 4, 2008
http://somd.com/news/headlines/2008/8466.shtml