Jarrot Francis
A Mayfair teenager and the Northeast Times teamed up to capture a suspected serial bank robber last week. … OK, maybe not exactly.
In truth, 19-year-old Justin Fuhrmeister did pretty much all of the heavy lifting as he single-handedly nabbed a knife-wielding man who allegedly held up the TD Bank at 6635 Frankford Ave. on May 24. But the neighborhood hero graciously credited his local newspaper for providing some valuable intelligence leading up to his own daring deed.
As soon as he saw the scraggly man sprinting from the bank with a husky security guard trailing in vain shortly after noon that day, Fuhrmeister recognized the suspect as a guy he had read about in the Times that morning. He knew that police and the FBI were looking for him.
“I remembered seeing his face in the paper. I knew if I didn’t get him, he was gonna get away,” Fuhrmeister said. “There were dozens of people watching on Frankford Avenue and in the Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot, and I was the only one who responded.”
According to Philadelphia Police, Jarrot Francis — a 40-year-old with multiple aliases and a long rap sheet — entered the bank at about 12:30 p.m. and handed a demand note to a teller. Francis allegedly said he had a gun. When the teller hesitated to respond, the robber ran.
Fuhrmeister, a college student who has a landscaping business, was driving his pickup truck southbound on Frankford with his buddy in the passenger seat when they saw Francis bolt across the avenue and the heavy-set security guard struggling to keep pace.
The guard screamed, “He just robbed the bank. Help me man, help me,” according to Fuhrmeister.
The purported bandit veered west on Fanshawe Street next to the doughnut shop, so Fuhrmeister took the next right onto Magee Avenue and another quick right onto Sackett Street to cut him off. As the two crossed paths, Fuhrmeister made a U-turn, pursuing Francis back around the block, through the doughnut shop parking lot and down Fanshawe again.
“Every turn he made, I blocked him off and every time I opened my door to get out, he started running faster,” Fuhrmeister said.
On the 3500 block of Fanshawe, Fuhrmeister overtook Francis, parked in front of him and leapt from his truck. Fuhrmeister’s passenger did the same.
“I ran, grabbed him, threw him into a car and onto the ground. That’s when he balled up and said, ‘Please don’t hurt me!’ That was the funny part,” Fuhrmeister said. “You would think he’s a bank robber and real tough. But as soon as I ran at him, he balled up.”
Fuhrmeister never saw a weapon on the guy, but his buddy spotted a knife on the ground and kicked it away from arm’s reach. In the heat of the moment, Fuhrmeister didn’t let potential danger hold him back.
“At the time, no. That didn’t come to mind until later, until my mom called me,” he said.
The bank security guard caught up after a few seconds, then Philadelphia police arrived a couple minutes after that.
“There was like a whole bunch of cops. They said, ‘That’s amazing, superhero stuff,’ ” Fuhrmeister recalled.
Local authorities charged Francis, of the 4900 block of Frankford Ave., with the attempted robbery that day, as well as robberies of two Republic branches at 8764 Frankford Ave. on June 8 and 7300 Frankford Ave. on June 14. The FBI is investigating the case, which likely will be turned over to federal prosecutors. Francis is imprisoned at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility.
Fuhrmeister, a Franklin Towne Charter High graduate who attends East Stroudsburg University, hopes to put more crooks behind bars someday. He’s studying criminal justice and plans to apply for admission to the Philadelphia and state police academies. ••
A local hero: Justin Fuhrmeister, 19, nabbed a knife-wielding man who allegedly robbed the TD Bank at 6635 Frankford Ave. on May 24. MARIA POUCHNIKOVA / TIMES PHOTO
