Judge Reduces Bail for Alleged Serial Bank Robbery Accomplice

A judge on Tuesday reduced the bail of the 20-year-old Napa man who allegedly drove a serial bank robbery suspect to and from a number of those robberies in Marin and elsewhere over the past few months. The alleged serial bank robbery suspect himself – 23-year-old Joshua Metoxen of American Canyon – was “not medically cleared to appear in court” and is expected to enter a plea in the case on April 23.

Marin County Superior Court Judge Terrence Boren reduced the bail of Jack Henry Dennis from $500,000 to $250,000, an amount his attorney William Daley said “could work” as part of his parents’ efforts to get him into a drug treatment program and on the road to recovery.

Dennis faces felony attempted robbery and burglary charges in connection with a March 28 incident in which a bank teller at U.S. Bank in the Safeway at 5720 Nave Drive in Novato recognized the alleged robber as having been involved in a previous robbery at the bank. The suspect, whom police have identified as Metoxen, fled the bank on foot and Novato Police later pulled over the tan-colored sedan believed to be involved in the attempted robbery on the northbound Hwy. 101 on-ramp ay Rowland Boulevard.

The alleged getaway vehicle in the attempted robbery on March 28 matches the description provided by police in the aftermath of the bank robbery in Strawberry on March 13.

In making his case against reducing Dennis’ bail, Deputy District Attorney Otis Bruce said Metoxen was lying down in the back of the car when police pulled it over. He also alleged that Dennis had admitted to driving Metoxen to and from prior bank robberies, including the previous one in Novato as well as one at the Westamerica Bank in Strawberry Village on March 13.

Daley said that Dennis' involvement in the March 28 incident was minimal. "The only connection my cient has to Mr. Metoxen is that he was driving with him in a vehicle after the alleged attempted robbery," he said. Daley also claimed that the amount of money taken in the Feb. 19 robbery at the U.S. Bank inside Safeway was between $1,500 and $2,000, noting that it involved no violence of weapons.

"The bottom line is that my client's involvement in these crimes is on the minimal side," Daley added.

Boren did not rule on Metoxen’s request for a reduction of his $1 million bail because he did not appear in court. Metoxen also faces an additional outstanding $750,000 warrant on bank robbery charges in Lake County. Authorities have said that Metoxen is a suspect in numerous other robberies in Sonoma, Lake and San Mateo counties.

Metoxen is considered a suspect in 11 bank robberies and three attempted robberies, Lake County Sheriff’s Lt. Steve Brooks told the Marinscope Newspapers.

Novato Police officials have said they are working with a variety of law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, to determine the involvement of both suspects in previously reported robberies throughout Northern California.

Dennis’ parents appeared in court, with Daley telling Boren about their plans to get their son on the road to recovery, returning to his job as a busboy at a Napa restaurant and surrounded by family in the area. Daley said Dennis had been going through “withdrawals from methadone” in jail in the days since his March 28 arrest.