Arrest made in two Nassau County bank robberies, police say

A homeless man has been arrested and charged in connection with two December bank robberies in Nassau County, police said.

Nassau County police Major Case Bureau detectives from the Robbery Squad arrested Romell Nellis, 40, in Westbury on Wednesday and charged him with two counts of third-degree robbery. He is scheduled for arraignment Thursday in First District Court in Hempstead.

It was not clear if he was represented by an attorney.

Police said that at about 6 p.m. on Dec. 30, Nellis entered the Chase Bank branch at 270 North Central Ave. in Valley Stream, handed a demand note to a teller and fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash. The subsequent investigation also linked Nellis to a similar robbery of a Roslyn Savings Bank branch in West Hempstead on Dec. 17, police said.

No one was hurt in either incident.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”