A 2012 crime spree suspect who was allegedly involved in a bait shop robbery will be charged

A former state prisoner is in local custody to face charges related to robbing a Fellsmere fish shop in 2012, nearly a decade after confessing to a spree of armed robberies throughout South Florida.

Nearly ten years after confessing to a spate of armed robberies throughout South Florida, a former state prisoner is currently being held locally to face charges relating to stealing a seafood business in Fellsmere in 2012, crime spree. (Photo: Yahoo News)

Romain, suspected as they robbed two customers and pistol-whipped a clerk

Records show that Frenel Romain, 32, of Oakland Park in Broward County, was moved from a state jail to the Indian River County Jail on Thursday. He is currently being held there in lieu of $1,530,000 bail.

Marketplace reported that he is suspected of being there, crime spree, along with Jurvis Spells, when they robbed two customers and pistol-whipped a clerk at a bait-and-tackle store at 9 S. on February 29, 2012, Fellsmere’s Mulberry Street.

In addition, Romain is accused of holding up a man in a parked car on Wilbur Avenue in Vero Beach while brandishing a revolver.

Romain is charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and three charges of robbery with a dangerous weapon in each instance. Spells, 33, of Fort Lauderdale, is serving a 16-year sentence relating to convictions in five armed robberies in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Spells is not officially charged in Indian River County. According to state statistics, he is expected to be released from prison in 2028.

As many as 30 armed robberies in South Florida, according to Miami Beach Police, were committed by Romain, Spells, and a second guy, CBS News reported in March 2012.

Fellsmere Police Chief Keith Touchberry said everyone should be held accountable for their offenses when contacted on Saturday.

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Counties-wide crime wave

In an article from Yahoo News, after being taken into jail by the authorities, Romain and Spells admitted that they had left Miami Beach for Vero Beach at around 2 a.m. According to an arrest affidavit, they robbed a guy in Vero Beach on February 29, 2012, after which they went to a bait and tackle shop in Fellsmere.

According to testimonies taken by Miami Beach police, Spells entered the shop to confront the clerk while Romain remained outside and robbed two customers at gunpoint.

Both the man wanting to buy fish bait and the man looking to get ice for a cooler were accosted by Romain.

Spells admitted to the police that he fought with the store clerk after brandishing a firearm and hitting the employee twice in the head with it.

The cashier observed Romain and Spells depart in a Chevy Malibu as she raced out of the premises.

Spells told Miami Beach police officers that he attempted to shoot the store clerk, but the gun did not go off.

In June, Romain was unable to persuade the judge to lift a hold the sheriff’s office had placed on his release from prison. His arguments that the statute of limitations had run on the felony offenses stated in two arrest warrants filed in 2012 were denied by Circuit Judge Janet Croom in a decision dated June 22.

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