A suspect nicknamed the "Bolt Bandit" pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges in connection with several robberies in San Diego, including two last week at the same Bay Park gas station.
Ronald Perez, 67, was charged with four counts of armed robbery and two counts of attempted armed robbery in the spree centered around an Arco gas station on Morena Boulevard.
He was taken into custody on Clairemont Drive around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, only a few miles away from the gas station.
Surveillance video captured the first Arco robbery on Wednesday when a man entered the gas station with his face covered. The man pointed a gun at the cashier and demanded money.
Police say the same robbery suspect returned Saturday morning, demanding money from an attendant at gunpoint. A customer entered the store at that moment, scaring the suspect away.
Perez was booked into jail Saturday night.
The charges include robberies or attempted robberies at a Subway on Balboa Avenue on Nov. 14, a 7-Eleven on W. Washington Street on Nov. 20, an AM/PM on Balboa Avenue on Nov. 25 and an AM/PM store on Morena Boulevard on both Nov. 22 and Nov. 25.
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Investigators said in all five incidents, the suspect wore a stocking cap with a lightning bolt emblem so they dubbed the man the "Bolt Bandit."
Perez pleaded not guilty in court Wednesday and is being held on $500,000 bail. He is scheduled to next appear in court on Dec. 8 for a readiness hearing.
