A Valencia bank robbery suspect appeared in court Monday for charges of five hold-ups across Southern California, officials said.  

Forrest Colby Rowe, 49, of San Bernardino, was arrested on Jan. 8 — two days after his alleged bank robbery in Valencia —  by deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Major Crimes Bureau (MCB), according to Shirley Miller, spokesperson for the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.

Rowe is also charged with four additional robberies at Chase bank locations in Diamond Bar, Yorba Linda, Fallbrook and Tujunga. 

The bank robbery in Valencia was originally reported at about 3:15 p.m. on Jan. 6 on the 24000 block of Valencia Boulevard, Sheriff’s officials.

“(Rowe) handed a teller a note stating he had a gun and to give him money,” Miller said. “The suspect then took the money and fled.”

The suspect, initially described as a male in his 50s wearing a hooded jacket and glasses, fled on foot with $2,100 westbound near Valencia Boulevard, according to deputies on scene.

Two days later,  MCB detectives found the suspect, identified to be Rowe, hiding out in a motel in San Bernardino, the city in which he lived, according to Sheriff’s officials. 

“Rowe, a parolee, was found to be connected to four other bank robberies,” Miller said.

See Related: Man Arrested In Connection With Valencia Chase Bank Robbery

Between Dec. 23 and Monday’s robbery, Rowe allegedly stole nearly $19,000 from five different Chase banks, according to Miller.

“Witnesses described the robber handing the victim teller a note indicating that he had a gun, demanding money be placed in a blue zippered money envelope and instructing the victim teller to place the note inside the bag with the cash,” reads the criminal complaint on the Diamond Bar robbery.

LASD deputies obtained surveillance video from a nearby business that showed the vehicle used by the robber, a silver Ford Mustang, and its license plate number, according to the complaint. 

Using the license plate number, LASD deputies consulted law enforcement databases to track down the registered owner of the Ford Mustang, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

The registered owner of the Mustang told deputies that he sold the Mustang to Rowe prior

to the Diamond Bar Chase robbery, and produced a transfer of title document indicating the sale, according to court documents. 

Investigators later found Rowe to be on active parole, and tracked the suspect by his cell phone number to a motel in San Bernardino, according to prosecutors. 

“Inside Rowe’s hotel room, officers found the black Adidas hat worn by the Diamond Bar Chase robber,” the complaint said. “A search of the silver Mustang revealed a blue money envelope with a demand note inside.”

Using the PA system on a patrol car, deputies called Rowe out of the motel room and took him into custody. 

He is currently being housed at the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he is being held on $2 million bail with an FBI hold, according to officials.

Rowe is due back to the U.S. District Court in Downtown Los Angeles on Jan. 31 for arraignment. 

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