Alleged getaway driver in Coachella armed robbery pleads not guilty

A woman accused of being the getaway driver in the armed robbery of a Coachella cell phone store pleaded not guilty today to a robbery count.

Deana Romero, 48, of Thermal, is accused of driving Mary Helen Delara, 29, of Coachella, from the scene of the March 7 heist at the Metro PCS store at 52669 Harrison St.

Delara allegedly entered the store around noon, wearing a black ski mask and brandishing a handgun, and escaped with about $500 in cash, along with a cell phone taken from one of the store clerks, according to an arrest warrant declaration.

She allegedly made her getaway in a minivan later determined to be owned and driven by Romero, the declaration states.

Romero, who allegedly received about $160 for her part in the robbery, told investigators that she dropped Delara off at an acquaintance’s home just after the robbery, according to a separate arrest warrant declaration.

Delara, who’s charged with robbery, kidnapping and evading arrest, was apprehended hours after the robbery when she was spotted in a gold Mazda Protégé driven by a man, court documents state. Delara was allegedly lying in the backseat, while two men sat up front, according to the declaration.

The Mazda driver sped off after deputies attempted to stop the car, triggering a pursuit that ended when he lost control of the sedan while headed westbound on Airport Boulevard in Thermal. The car went veered onto the right shoulder, then back onto Airport Boulevard, where it broadsided a pickup truck
in the eastbound lanes, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Mike Radford.

The declaration states that during the chase, “a CHP aviation unit and several deputies observed the female occupant take control of the vehicle, and the driver of the vehicle attempting to fight her off.”

Delara and the two men were hospitalized, while the pickup driver was uninjured.

The crash left Delara hospitalized at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs for nearly a month. Sheriff’s deputies took her into custody at the hospital on April 6 and booked her into the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside in lieu of $1 million bail, according to county jail records.

She pleaded not guilty to all counts last month. Both women are due back in court May 29 for a felony settlement conference.