Jury Convicts Man of Armed Robbery, Conspiring to Rob Bank Teller Using Threatening Note, Resisting Arrest

NORFOLK, Va. — A jury convicted Anton Demetrius Williams Jr., 23, on Wednesday, March 12, of robbery using a firearm, conspiring to commit robbery, and resisting arrest after he enlisted the help of a woman to commit a bank robbery in 2023 and fought with the officer who arrested him, breaking the officer’s wrist.

On Dec. 11, 2023, an unidentified woman entered a credit union on Granby Street in Wards Corner and passed a teller a note reading, “You have one minute to put all the loose money in the bag or you will get shot.” The teller alerted Norfolk Police by activating a silent alarm, she put $2,000 in cash — plus a false bundle of cash containing a GPS tracking device — in a bank bag, and the woman left the bank with the bag of money. Surveillance video from the credit union showed the woman had been wearing a black wig, and the bank teller also testified at trial that the woman was wearing a wig.

Using GPS tracking, police traced the stolen cash to a gas station further north on Granby Street in Wards Corner. Officers arrived there, they saw Mr. Williams leaving a vehicle parked in the near-empty lot, and Mr. Williams ran away. Inside Mr. Williams’ vehicle was a receipt dated earlier that day for a wig from a beauty supply store. GPS tracking continued to show the cash moving with Mr. Williams. When the officers ran after and detained Mr. Williams, they found an empty bank bag on the ground nearby as well as a different bag containing the stolen cash and tracking device. Mr. Williams then physically resisted arrest and broke an officer’s wrist in the process. Surveillance footage from the site of Mr. Williams’ arrest showed him partially burying the bank bag before the officers took him into custody.

On March 11, 2025, Mr. Williams pleaded not guilty to his charges of armed robbery, conspiring to commit armed robbery, and resisting arrest, and he opted to be tried by a jury. On March 12, the jury found Mr. Williams guilty as charged. Judge Robert B. Rigney, who presided over Mr. Williams’ trial, set his sentencing hearing on May 23.

“Once again, a combination of witness cooperation, good police work, cameras, and technology gave my prosecutors the evidence necessary to try a violent crime to a jury and to secure a conviction,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “We and the police welcome any information regarding Mr. Williams’ accomplice, and in the meantime we will seek a sentence appropriate to the offenses that Mr. Williams has committed. We remain dedicated to focusing our resources on prosecuting violent crimes in our city.”

Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Scott C. Vachris and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Matthew G. Finley are prosecuting Mr. Williams’ case, and Norfolk Police Detective Patrick A. Garvey led the investigation.

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