Police identified a man accused of a string of bank robberies in San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties as the same person who committed a robbery in Pasadena a day before he was taken into custody, officials said Sunday.
On Jan. 30 at about 2:14 p.m., officers from the Pasadena Police Department responded to a bank robbery at the Chase Bank located at 132 E. Colorado Bl., along the popular shopping block in Old Town Pasadena, according to a news release from the department.
After investigating, detectives learned that the suspect, Steven Ray Simmons, 48, of Upland, had already been located and taken into custody by the San Bernardio County Sheriff’s Department on Jan. 31 for other robberies. Simmons was found at a motel at Atlantic Avenue and First Street in Long Beach, along with evidence linking him to the Pasadena Chase Bank robbery, according to police.
During the Pasadena robbery, Simmons passed a demand note to the bank teller, implying he had a gun — a method similar to one he used in a failed robbery attempt a week before in Rancho Cucamonga. However, no weapons were seen during the Pasadena robbery, police said.
Simmons fled the bank with $3,200 before officers arrived. A search of the area was conducted but the suspect was not found.
During a follow-up investigation, detectives found evidence along the path they believe Simmons took when he was fleeing.
FBI investigators who assisted in the investigation believed the suspect to be the same as a bank robber who previously committed robberies in Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga. All available evidence across agencies suggested it was, indeed, the same suspect in all three instances, officials said.
Simmons is scheduled to appear in San Bernardino County Superior Court on Feb. 13 for a hearing in his case, according to court records.
Bail was set at $80,000, records show.
