Two individuals have been charged in a string of high-stakes bank robberies that put Kensington on high alert earlier this year. The Montgomery County Department of Police has named 64-year-old Alvin Chun and 62-year-old Ronald Wesley Johnson as the principal suspects behind the armed heists that occurred in February and March.
The duo allegedly initiated their run on February 1, when Chun reportedly stormed into the M&T Bank on Montgomery Avenue, leveraged a revolver to liberate an undisclosed sum of cash, and escaped without a trace. A similar scenario unfolded six days later at a Capital One Bank on Connecticut Avenue, where again, a firearm facilitated an urgent withdrawal, followed by a quick getaway in a U-Haul van. The suspects extended their spree on March 18, when Chun purportedly made an unwelcome visit to the M&T Bank vault room, left with more unreported funds.
Investigative efforts by MCPD’s Major Crimes Division alongside partners in Prince George’s County and Washington, D.C. uncovered connections to Chun and Johnson, also linked to crimes beyond Montgomery County's jurisdiction. According to the Montgomery County Department of Police, after an extensive manhunt, the law caught up with the pair: Johnson fell into custody on April 8, securely confined without bond at Montgomery County Correctional Facility, and Chun was cornered and captured on June 5, now waits in the D.C. Central Detention Facility for the gears of justice to grind towards extradition.
Authorities have piled the charges high on these storied suspects. Johnson faces two counts each of first-degree assault, armed robbery, and the grave undertaking of wielding a firearm in the execution of a violent crime, along with one count of conspiracy. Chun, perhaps with a heavier hand in these events, is shouldering three counts of armed robbery, along with similar assault, firearm, and conspiracy charges.
