Jury Finds Woman Guilty of Armed Robbery, Sexual Cyber Harassment

State Attorney Melissa Nelson announces that a Duval County jury found Shawnee Rochester guilty of Armed Robbery, Criminal Mischief, and Sexual Cyber Harassment. With the verdict, Rochester faces up to life in Florida State Prison and has a minimum mandatory of 10 years. The Honorable Tatiana Salvador will sentence Rochester at a later date.

On Oct. 20, 2023, officers responded to an Ortega apartment complex for an armed robbery. Rochester held a victim at gunpoint and stole $100 cash. The witness knew Rochester through the Corrections Academy, where they had been attending for about three weeks. The two began hanging out outside of class, but a few days prior they stopped seeing each other. That night, the witness and the victim were watching a movie at his apartment when he started getting phone calls and texts from Rochester. He believed Rochester was outside his apartment; when he stepped outside to look for her car, Rochester ran into his apartment and locked the door. She held the victim inside at gunpoint and eventually demanded the witness step inside as well. Rochester ordered them to sit down “or someone is going to die.” The victim gave Rochester her cellphone to show Rochester the nature of her relationship with the witness. Rochester took her phone then demanded money while holding the victim at gunpoint, and the victim handed over cash. Rochester ran out the door and called the victim’s mother; the witness told Rochester he called the police, so she slammed the phone on the ground and ran. The investigation revealed Rochester used the victim’s phone to send intimate photos of the victim to her family and posted the photos on social media.

The case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by Assistant State Attorneys Elizabeth Brown and Rachel Allison.