5½-year sentence for man whose crime spree snared 10 vehicles in Edina and Minnetonka

A Minneapolis man on Thursday was sentenced to 5½ years for a car theft spree in Edina and Minnetonka that snared 10 vehicles — many of them luxury models — within a few summer weeks in 2023.

Romell Roshode Lewis, 22, had pleaded guilty in Hennepin County District Court to three counts of motor vehicle theft and one count of first-degree aggravated robbery in connection with the crimes in July and August of 2023.

With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Lewis is expected to serve the first 3¼ years of his sentence in prison and the balance on supervised release.

“These were brazen incidents that could have had tragic outcomes,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement after the sentencing. “The community will be protected from Mr. Lewis.”

An accomplice in part of the spree, Derek Sincere Holmes, 19, of St. Paul, has pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary and was scheduled to be sentenced on Monday.

In 2023, according to prosecutors:

On July 16, an Edina man said he discovered his car was taken from his Parkwood Road driveway with his wallet inside. He later learned his credit card was used at a Walgreens in Robbinsdale.

On Aug. 2, 5 and 6, three Edina residents reported their luxury vehicles were stolen.

On Aug. 16, a Minnetonka woman said her Mercedes sedan was stolen; it was later found at a hotel in Greenfield, Wis. Law enforcement said Lewis and others used the vehicle in a carjacking Aug. 17 on Wingwood Court in Minnetonka.

In that incident, a woman carrying groceries into her home confronted the carjackers as they tried to steal her husband’s car in their garage. Lewis and Holmes attacked her, and Lewis shoved her 13-year-old son to the ground and struggled to take his phone.

Police said one of her assailants sped off in her car, while Holmes drove off in the Mercedes.

About 50 minutes earlier, Lewis had stolen a purse from an Edina woman’s vehicle parked in her Wooddale Avenue garage.

On Aug. 18, Lewis stole two more vehicles from a Minnetonka home on Pine Island Road.

On Aug. 26, an Edina man reported his Audi sedan was stolen out of his garage on Kelsey Terrace. Four days later, another Edina man had his Ford Expedition stolen from Mirror Lakes Drive.