La Crescenta : Hearing for Robbery Suspect

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled Monday for a 36-year-old man suspected of robbing nearly $15,000 from six banks in La Crescenta, La Canada and the San Fernando Valley, officials said.

Rickey Alford of Palmdale has been charged with six felony counts of armed robbery and six counts of a felon possessing a weapon, said Detective Ken Talianko of the sheriff’s station in La Crescenta.

During his arraignment last week, Alford pleaded not guilty and waived his right to a public defender, prosecutors said. He was convicted of robbery in 1977.

Alford was arrested in connection with a string of bank robberies from July 31 to Aug. 31 last year in Granada Hills, Sylmar, Sepulveda, La Crescenta and La Canada, officials said.

All were Bank of America branches except for the first robbery, which was at a Great Western Bank, Talianko said.

In most cases, the robber wore sunglasses and a baseball cap and wielded a .25-caliber pistol, which has been recovered.

Alford also is accused of robbing a Security Pacific bank in Fontana a month later, the detective said.

Alford was arrested in October, 1992, in connection with an Antelope Valley rape, officials said. Talianko matched Alford’s booking photo with bank surveillance photos taken of the robber.

Alford has been in custody since October. He is being held at the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles in lieu of $180,000 bail on the robbery charge.