A man accused of pulling off a pair of bank heists in Palm Desert pleaded not guilty Friday to two counts of robbery.
Christopher Thomas Franco of Indio, 43, was arrested Wednesday night in the 83500 block of Indio Boulevard in connection with the holdups, according to Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Vasquez.
He was being held at the Indio Jail without bail.
The first robbery occurred at a Rabobank in the 41000 block of Cook Street on June 14 with the second one a few miles away at Pacific Premier Bank at Fred Waring Drive on Monday, Vasquez said.
Authorities did not disclose how much money was stolen from those two locations.
Investigators do not believe any other suspects related to the pair of robberies are at large, according to Vasquez.
Sheriff’s officials did not identify Franco as a suspect in a June 10 heist where authorities said a man brandishing a gun robbed a Wells Fargo bank branch in the 42000 block of Bob Hope Drive in Rancho Mirage.
The suspect in that case was described as wearing dark clothing and a dark covering over his face.
Franco is expected back in court on July 1 for a felony settlement conference.
