MINNEAPOLIS — Editor's note: The above video first aired Sept. 18, 2023.
Prosecutors say a man accused in a violent carjacking in a Minnetonka family's driveway is also connected to several other burglaries and vehicle thefts in Edina and Minnetonka.
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office announced additional charges for Romell Roshode Lewis in nine incidents between July 16 and Aug. 30, including several that occurred in people's driveways.
According to court records, Lewis was allegedly involved in the following incidents:
July 16: An Infinity sedan was stolen from an Edina man's driveway. The man said his keys and wallet were inside the vehicle when it was stolen. The victim was later notified that his credit card had been used at a drug store in Robbinsdale shortly after the vehicle was taken. The vehicle was found nearly two weeks later in Milwaukee. According to the criminal complaint, Lewis' phone was in the area of the victim's home at around the time the vehicle was stolen. Phone records also show that Lewis was near the Robbinsdale drug store when the victim's credit card was used. Investigators were also able to track Lewis' phone to Milwaukee on July 18.
Aug. 2: A Mercedes was stolen from an Edina woman's garage. Surveillance video showed two people enter her garage around 2:30 p.m. and leave in her vehicle. The woman was able to track her vehicle using GPS and saw that it was traveling to St. Paul. Police recovered the vehicle about three hours after it was stolen off Wilson Avenue. Court documents say that Lewis' phone was in the area at the time of the theft. Investigators say Lewis' phone was also shown traveling from near the victim's home to a St. Paul residence and then near the location where the vehicle was found.
Aug. 5: A Volkswagon SUV parked on the street was stolen outside an Edina man's home. The victim told investigators he parked his vehicle on the street with the keys inside when it was stolen around 4:30 p.m. The man was able to track his vehicle with an app on his phone to an address in Minneapolis, where the vehicle was eventually located after about two hours. Lewis' phone was again shown to be in the area at the time of the location and was tracked to the area where the vehicle was eventually recovered, according to prosecutors.
Aug. 6: A BMW sedan was stolen overnight from an Edina man's driveway. Three days later, the victim's vehicle was recovered at a home in Milwaukee. Officials say they tracked Lewis' phone near the victim's home at the time of the vehicle theft and tracked it traveling to Milwaukee where the vehicle was found. A search warrant showed that Lewis sent a message to a person on Facebook with an address on the same street where the vehicle was found.
Aug. 16: A Mercedes sedan was stolen from a Minnetonka woman's garage. The victim said she left her garage open with the keys inside her vehicle, and when she returned to her garage, the vehicle was gone. Officials say it's the same vehicle that was seen fleeing the residence at a carjacking on Aug. 17 at a Minnetonka family's residence. Investigators were also able to determine that Lewis' phone was in the area at around the time the theft occurred. The Mercedes was located two weeks later at a hotel in Greenfield, Wisconsin, according to the criminal complaint. A search warrant revealed that Lewis sent a video of the vehicle.
Aug. 17: A Mercedes sedan was stolen from a Minnetonka family's driveway. According to the complaint, around 10:50 a.m. a woman and her son returned home from grocery shopping. While carrying groceries into the home, the woman "looked out the window and observed a grayish sedan occupied by multiple males pull up in front of her home." When she exited her home into the attached garage, she noticed one man in the driver's seat of her husband's vehicle in the garage. The man wasn't able to start the car in the garage and ran back to the suspect vehicle. When she went to confront them, the complaint states two other men then attacked her. When the 13-year-old son tried calling the police, one of the men started dragging the teen while trying to take the phone but was unable to overpower him. According to the complaint, the son sustained scrapes on his body and suffered physical pain during the attack. The four suspects then sped off in the suspect sedan and the victim's vehicle. Two people, including Lewis, have been charged. Derek Holmes, an 18-year-old, was also charged.
Aug. 18: A Minnetonka woman had a Lexus and a Mazda stolen from her garage. The woman said she believed she left her keys in the vehicle with the garage door open. Both vehicles were tracked with a GPS, and the Lexus was found in Minneapolis. The Mazda was tracked to a Shakopee gas station, where officers were able to obtain surveillance video that showed Holmes and the vehicle at the store.
Aug. 26: An Audi sedan was stolen from an Edina man's garage. A neighbor's camera showed a vehicle pull in front of the victim's home before two men exited the vehicle and were seen running into the victim's garage and stealing the vehicle. Investigators say the vehicle that pulled up in front of the victim's home was believed to be a stolen vehicle out of Plymouth.
Aug. 30: An Edina man's Ford Expedition was stolen from his driveway after coming home from a walk. The victim said he saw a man enter his vehicle and drive off. He also saw a vehicle matching the description of the vehicle that was believed to be stolen out of Plymouth. Edina police officers were able to intercept the vehicles, but the pursuit was ultimately terminated. Court documents say the Expedition was later recovered in Minneapolis.
Lewis is scheduled to make his next court appearance Oct. 16.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist: