Miller and Johnston became a media sensation. Caught on a security camera wearing designer shades and giggling as they made off with the loot, they became known as the “Barbie Bandits.” They were so sloppy that cops cracked the case in two days, arresting Miller, Johnston, the bank teller—who police say was in cahoots with the two—and Miller’s male companion, who allegedly hatched the plot. Now the four face a mix of theft and drug-related charges. But the most intriguing question remains: How did two girls who grew up in comfortable middle-class homes with a wealth of opportunity wind up as exotic dancers and accused crooks?
There was a time when they seemed full of promise. Johnston, 19, was a straight-A student and a nimble tennis player, says her uncle, Jay Johnston. She received a HOPE Scholarship, awarded to Georgia students with at least a 3.0 GPA, according to her father, Edward Johnston. Miller, 18, wasn’t strong academically but had a big heart and volunteered at a nursing home, says her mother, Joy Miller. But after graduating from high school last year, each fell in with a shady crowd, according to neighbors and relatives. Miller started going out with Michael Chastang, 27, known as “Skinny,” who Joy Miller describes as troubled. Her daughter, she says, wanted “to take him under her wings and make him all better.” Johnston, for her part, began dating a guy that her father disapproved of, according to her uncle. That may have contributed to a schism with her parents. She moved out last fall, and in December, police arrested her for trying to break in to her parents’ home while they were away. “It just goes to show you how quick a kid can be swayed from on-track to dead-end,” says Johnston’s uncle.
Both girls turned to stripping to earn cash. After meeting at Shooter Alley, they decided to move in together. About a month ago, they rented an apartment in a sketchy neighborhood in southwest Atlanta. The place had no furniture, and they slept on blankets on the floor, according to Miller’s mother. Neighbors say the pair stood out as the only white girls in an all-black area. Different men were observed coming and going.
Chastang devised the bank-robbery scheme, police say. According to an arrest warrant, he enlisted an “associate,” Benny Allen, who worked at a Bank of America branch in a Kroger grocery store. The plan: for Miller and Johnston to hold up Allen, who would fork over the money. The farcical results were broadcast around the world. Karen Davis, who was standing behind the girls in the bank line, remembers the two clearly. They were wearing chic sunglasses, snug jeans and short tops that exposed their midriffs, says Davis. “They looked like they were wearing designer head to toe and they’d coordinated outfits.” Only after the pair fled with what authorities say is a “substantial amount” of money did Davis learn that the girls had robbed the bank.
Miller and Johnston apparently did a dismal job of laying low. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, they went on a buying binge the next day, shopping at Gucci and getting their hair done at a posh salon. The day after that, cops arrested all four suspects. When police stopped Chastang and Miller, they discovered marijuana in the car and marijuana and ecstasy pills in Chastang’s pockets. Possibly seeking to protect Chastang, Miller told police, “Those pills are mine and he is just holding them for me.” In a subsequent interview, the cops say, she admitted to being a “drug dealer.” In addition to theft, the two were also charged with drug possession and trafficking. Johnston was charged with marijuana possession and theft, and later confessed her role in the robbery to police. Lastly, Allen was charged with theft. The four, who have not yet pled, are now waiting for the Cobb County district attorney to decide on formal charges. (Miller’s attorney, Bruce Harvey, maintains her innocence; Edward Johnston declined to comment on the theft and drug charges against his daughter and hadn’t yet hired a lawyer. Attorneys for Chastang and Allen couldn’t be reached.)
As the girls await their fate, their parents are praying for their redemption. Johnston “went down the wrong road” and “lost her way from the Lord,” says her father. But “God puts people in our paths to bring us back to him.” Joy Miller, who visited her daughter at the Cobb County jail on Sunday, says Ashley was coping as best she could and even talked about returning to school to study nursing. “She is a great kid,” says Joy. “She’s made a bad choice,” but “everything happens for a reason.” Maybe the reality of prison time will finally set her and Johnston straight.
