One of two men accused of robbing a U.S. Postal Service delivery worker in Palm Desert and possibly perpetrating similar offenses in other locations pleaded not guilty Thursday to robbery.
Luis Alberto Gonzalez, 32, of Victorville was arrested last month along with Jose Estevan Chavarria Jr., 28, of Los Angeles following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation, in coordination with other agencies.
Gonzalez was arraigned before Superior Court Judge Dean Benjamini, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for May 7 at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.
The defendant is being held in lieu of $1 million at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.
Chavarria pleaded not guilty to robbery during an arraignment earlier this month. He’s also being held in lieu of $1 million bail, but at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.
The defendant is slated to appear with Gonzalez at the hearing next month.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Jeff Cryder, shortly before 11 a.m. on March 24, the pair allegedly confronted a postal carrier in the area of Bertain and Storke drives in Cathedral City.
Cryder alleged one of the defendants brandished what appeared to be a handgun and forced the victim, whose identity was not disclosed, to hand over money and other belongings. It was unclear whether any packages or envelopes were taken.
The victim complied, and the two men allegedly fled, eluding patrol deputies who arrived minutes later in response to the mail carrier’s 911 call, according to the sergeant.
“During the ensuing investigation, it was determined that several additional robberies and attempted robberies of U.S. Postal Service carriers had occurred in Cathedral City and several cities in Los Angeles County,” he said.
Working with the USPS’ Inspection Service and the District Attorney’s Office, investigators turned up leads pointing to Chavarria and Gonzalez as the alleged culprits, Cryder said.
He said the men were located by Burbank Police Department officers on North Third Street in that San Fernando Valley city and taken into custody without incident on March 28.
Neither defendant has documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
It was not immediately known whether additional charges may be filed in connection with the other alleged holdups blamed on the pair.