Accused armed robber in 2012 crime spree to face charges in Fellsmere bait shop hold up
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Nearly a dozen years after admitting to a string of armed robberies throughout South Florida, a former state prisoner is in local custody to face charges related to holding up a Fellsmere bait shop in 2012.
Frenel Romain, 32, of Oakland Park in Broward County, was transferred Thursday from state prison to the Indian River County Jail, where he’s being held in lieu of $1,530,000 bail, records show.
He’s accused of being with an accomplice, Jurvis Spells — both armed with handguns — on Feb. 29, 2012, when they robbed two customers and pistol-whipped a clerk at a bait-and-tackle shop at 9 S. Mulberry St. in Fellsmere.
Romain also is charged with robbing a Vero Beach man at gunpoint who was sitting inside a parked vehicle on Wilbur Avenue.
In both cases, Romain faces three counts of robbery with deadly weapon and two counts of aggravated assault with deadly weapon. Spells, 33, of Fort Lauderdale, who currently is not charged in Indian River County, is serving a 16-year sentence related to convictions in five armed robberies in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. He’s scheduled to be released from prison in 2028, state records show.
In March 2012, CBS News reported that Miami Beach Police believed Romain, Spells and another man were responsible for as many as 30 armed robberies throughout South Florida.
Reached Saturday, Fellsmere Police Chief Keith Touchberry said “every person should be held accountable for crimes they commit.”
“Whether it happens right away or after nine years of incarceration,” Touchberry said, “if he committed the crimes like he admitted to having committed, then he needs to be held accountable for that.”
Multi-county crime spree
Once in police custody, Romain and Spells confessed to traveling from Miami Beach to Vero Beach around 2 a.m. on Feb. 29, 2012, where they robbed a man in Vero Beach then stopped at a Fellsmere bait-and-tackle store, according to an arrest affidavit.
Spells went inside the store to confront the clerk and Romain stayed outside and robbed two customers at gunpoint, according to statements recorded by Miami Beach police.
Romain confronted one man who was there to get ice for a cooler and another man looking to buy fish bait.
“He (Romain) said he pulled out his firearm and asked them for their wallets,” investigators reported.
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Spells told investigators he struggled with the store clerk after he brandished a weapon and struck the clerk twice in the head with a gun.
The clerk ran out of the building and saw Romain and Spells flee in a Chevy Malibu.
Spells admitted to Miami Beach police detectives that he tried to shoot the clerk but the gun didn’t fire.
“He supposed to be dead cuz I really tried to shoot him,” Spells told investigators. “I aimed at him, fired and nothing comes out. So I got mad and hit him across the head.”Media reports in 2012 show Romain and Spells were arrested by Lauderhill police, who recovered a rented silver Chevy Malibu used to rob two women at a Publix parking garage. Four days later in Miami Beach, they targeted a group of French tourists who were robbed walking to a hotel.
Romain in June failed to convince a judge to remove a detainer placed by the sheriff's office in his prison release. Circuit Judge Janet Croom in a June 22 order rejected his claims that a statute of limitations had expired related to felony charges listed in two arrest warrants issued in 2012.
Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers and is writer and co-host of "Uncertain Terms," a true-crime podcast. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com. If you are a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get the latest local news on the Treasure Coast.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Former prisoner charged in 2012 robberies in Fellsmere and Vero Beach
