Seattle man connected to dispensary, bank robberies gets 17-year sentence
SEATTLE - A Seattle man who was linked to a series of marijuana dispensary and bank robberies between December 2021 and June 2022 has been sentenced to 17 years in prison, the Department of Justice announced on Monday.
In one of the dispensary robberies, a worker was killed after being shot by someone that Michael Keylon Miller-Jimerson, 26, was working with to execute the theft, the DOJ said.
Miller-Jimerson was charged with armed bank robbery, robbery, and conspiracy to commit robbery.
The backstory:
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington said Miller-Jimerson robbed two dispensaries in Seattle, Greenworks and Greenfire, alongside two other people on Christmas Eve in 2021.
Officials say Miller-Jimerson served as the getaway driver in those incidents.
Then, a few weeks later, he robbed Zips Dispensary in Tacoma.
On March 11, he gave a gun to a juvenile to rob Lucid Cannabis in Auburn and its other location in West Seattle.
And on March 19, he provided guns to juveniles to rob the Bakeree dispensary in Seattle.
He also served as the getaway driver during the robbery of World of Weed in Tacoma, which led to an employee being shot and killed.
Following the deadly incident, Miller-Jimerson began robbing banks. He unsuccessfully attempted to rob a Chase branch in Seattle before moving onto Salal Credit Union, where an armed robbery took place in June 2022.
Officials say the final robbery occurred on June 17, 2022, when he again tried to rob a Chase in Seattle.
What they're saying:
"This defendant recruited juveniles to do his dirty work, perhaps in the mistaken belief that it would insulate him from criminal responsibility," said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. "His actions caused terror for store clerks and bank tellers and cost one young man his life. A 17-year federal sentence is needed to protect the public and hold him accountable."
W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office, said, "By recruiting vulnerable children, arming them, and training them to commit dangerous crimes, Miller-Jimerson and another adult co-conspirator sought to minimize their own criminal liability while they shared in the proceeds, including tens of thousands of dollars of stolen cash. This conduct was epitomized on March 19, 2022, when Miller-Jimerson waited in a vehicle outside as an employee of a marijuana dispensary in Tacoma, Washington lay dying, shot by a 15-year-old co-conspirator during a robbery gone wrong."
U.S. District Judge Lauren King called Miller-Jimerson's actions part of a "violent crime spree" that "terrorized the community for your own personal gain."
"You used juveniles… to commit the most dangerous part of the offenses. And you didn’t stop after a man lost his life," Judge King said. "A lengthy sentence is needed to protect the community."
What's next:
Miller-Jimerson’s prison sentence will be served alongside his 15-year sentence he received in Pierce County Superior Court.
Judge King also gave him five years of supervised release following his sentence.
The Source: Information for this story came from the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington.
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