A man involved in violent armed robberies in South Florida was arrested Tuesday on felony charges, according to arrest reports.
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Janeel Frontal, 32, is charged with three counts of armed robbery with a firearm or deadly weapon and one count of kidnapping in the crimes dating back to June 2026.
According to arrest reports, Frontal was involved in at least three armed robberies.
On Aug. 3, he was allegedly involved in an robbery in which a man was attacked as he was exiting a kosher butcher shop. The arrest report said the victim was trying to close his driver’s side door when a gray Kia K4 pulled up beside him at around 3 p.m.
A man with a handgun got out of the Kia’s passenger seat, struck the victim in the face and demanded his Rolex, authorities said. The suspect took the watch, which was later sold at a Hialeah jewelry shop, and fled the scene.
Investigators said the Kia was operating with a stolen license plate, but the vehicle’s front-end damage and original plate led them to other robberies and Frontal.
One of those other incidents happened on July 23 in Homestead. An arrest report describes that in that case, two men pistol-whipped a victim and demanded money as he was going into his home. The suspects took him to the front porch of his home and tied him up with a phone cord, officials said.
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The victim begged the men not to go in the residence, because he said he had family inside and dogs that would bite them. Authorities said the robbers took the victim’s Cuban link chain, a gold chain and fake earrings worth a total of $16,000. Then one of the robbers opened the front door to his home, but saw the dogs and closed the door. According to the arrest report, the subjects pointed a gun at the victim and said, “I know where your baby momma lives and your kid,” and also, “We are gonna have to kill this one.”
The victim said he couldn’t identify the subjects because they were both wearing masks. But detectives learned that the vehicle involved had front-end damage, and later, a search of Frontal’s cellphone showed conversations about the Homestead robbery. Detectives said he had sold the stolen jewelry at a store in Hialeah, and in September, talked about it in jail calls.
But the earliest of Frontal’s alleged crimes happened back on June 15 in Miami Beach, when a man was beaten and robbed of his crossbody bag as he walked to his hotel. Surveillance footage shows the robber exiting the passenger seat of the Kia K4 involved in all the crimes. Authorities determined Frontal was the getaway driver in that case.
Based on victim statements, surveillance video, cellphone data and previous traffic stops in which Frontal was seen driving the Kia K4, authorities believe he was involved in all three crimes.
On Tuesday, investigators found Frontal at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building, where he was present for a scheduled court appearance.
That’s when he was taken into the custody and booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
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Frontal was in bond court on Wednesday and ordered held without bond.