(BIVN) – Two men from Mountain View were arrested and charged last week in connection with two separate robberies that occurred at businesses in Downtown Hilo.

The Hawaiʻi Police Department says 25-year-old Sultan Jerome and 22-year-old Robert Franklin were arrested following a traffic stop on Wednesday, May 28th.

Police detailed the events that led to the arrested in a news release:

On Tuesday, May 27, 2025, at 3:19 p.m., Hilo patrol officers responded to a report of an active robbery at a business in the 200 block of Kamehameha Avenue. Upon arrival, officers contacted the 77-year-old male store owner who reported that he observed a male suspect remove a pair of sunglasses and attempt to leave the store without paying for them. When the store owner tried to lock the front door to prevent the theft, the suspect shoved the victim away from the door into a wall, causing pain and bruising to the store owner. The suspect left the area on foot with the sunglasses prior to police arriving on scene.

The store owner provided police with a photograph of the male suspect that he had taken a few days earlier when he suspected the same man of stealing merchandise from the store. One of the responding officers recognized the man in the photograph as 25-year-old Sultan Jerome of Mountain View, which led to Jerome being positively identified as the suspect in this incident. Officers then issued an island-wide All-Points-Bulletin (APB) for Jerome’s arrest for second-degree robbery.

Less than 12 hours later, on Wednesday, May 28, at 1:00 a.m., Hilo patrol officers conducted a traffic stop on a white Ford Explorer for a traffic infraction at the intersection of Mauna Loa and Hualālai Streets in Hilo. Jerome was identified as the front passenger in the vehicle and arrested for his outstanding APB for second-degree robbery.

Before Jerome exited the vehicle, officers observed him place the sunglasses he was wearing on his head on top of a bag on the vehicle’s floor. The sunglasses matched the description of the stolen sunglasses and the vehicle was recovered as evidence and towed to the Hilo Police Station pending issuance of a search warrant.

The driver of the Ford Explorer, 22-year-old Robert Franklin of Mountain View, was also arrested for an outstanding warrant for second-degree robbery stemming from an unrelated incident that occurred on March 29, 2025 (Report #: 25-029037). Police previously issued a media release that they were looking for the suspect in that robbery investigation (BIVN story).

Cell phone photo of the suspect taken by the victim showing the suspect leaving with the stolen items.

In the March incident, Franklin was positively identified as the suspect who stole alcoholic beverages from a gas station on Kamehameha Avenue in downtown Hilo and assaulted the gas station employee who confronted him outside the store about the stolen items. 

As part of the ongoing investigation of that case, detectives with the Area I Criminal Investigation Section (CIS) issued an arrest warrant for Franklin for second-degree robbery. 

On May 28, Area I CIS detectives executed a search warrant on the Ford Explorer and recovered the sunglasses confirmed to be stolen in the May 27 robbery in downtown Hilo. After conferring with Hawai‘i County Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, Jerome was charged with second-degree robbery and his bail was set at $10,000. 

Franklin was also charged with second-degree robbery and his bail was set at $5,000.