A woman convicted of throwing a Molotov cocktail into a Southern California bank after becoming angry over the wait for a teller was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday, federal officials said.
Teranee Millet, 35, threw the firebomb into a bank in Torrance following a dispute with the bank manager, the US attorney's office said.
Millet threatened to blow up the facility after arguing with the manager and later returned to follow through on her threat, a news release from the California Department of Justice states.
She pleaded guilty in March to unlawful possession of a firearm and destructive device, according to the news release.
After entering a Bank of America branch in September 2021, Millet "demanded to be helped by another teller because she had been waiting for too long," the release states. When the bank manager told her she would have to keep waiting, "Millet used profane language and then yelled, 'I'm going to blow this bitch up!'"
The bank manager called 911 and informed law enforcement of Millet's threat. Millet returned a few minutes later and threw a Molotov cocktail into the bank, starting a fire that was extinguished by a customer.
"On her way out of the bank's parking lot and before law enforcement arrived, she threatened another customer and threw a glass bottle at the customer's truck, causing minor damage to the vehicle," the release states.
Identified by bank surveillance photos, Millet was arrested two months later on the opposite side of the country.
Millet led Georgia police on a car chase in a stolen U-Haul van that ended in a crash, the US attorney's office said. Inside the van, according to court documents, police found a gym bag containing four packs of glass bottles with tissue paper inserted inside them, a can of lighter fluid and a 5-gallon can of gasoline.
The city of Torrance is around 20 miles south of Los Angeles.
