Man accused of robbing postal workers in Coachella Valley, LA makes court appearance

INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) - One of two men accused of robbing a U.S. Postal Service delivery worker in Palm Desert and possibly perpetrating similar offenses in other locations made his initial court appearance today.   

Luis Alberto Gonzalez, 32, of Victorville was arrested last month along with Jose Estevan Chavarria Jr., 28, of Los Angeles following a Riverside County Sheriff's Department investigation, in coordination with other agencies.   

Gonzalez is charged with second-degree robbery.   

He appeared before Superior Court Judge Dean Benjamini, who appointed him an attorney and scheduled his arraignment for April 16 at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.

Gonzalez had been held in lieu of $80,000 bail, but the judge hiked the bond requirement to $1 million based on a sheriff's affidavit requesting a higher surety due to potential public safety and flight risks posed by the defendant, according to court records.

Gonzalez is being held at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.    Chavarria pleaded not guilty to robbery during an arraignment Monday in the same courtroom, and Benjamini scheduled a felony settlement conference, also for April 16, at the Indio courthouse.

Chavarria is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.

According to sheriff's Sgt. Jeff Cryder, shortly before 11 a.m. on March 24, the pair confronted a postal carrier in the area of Bertain and Storke drives in Cathedral City.

Cryder said one of the defendants brandished what appeared to be a handgun and forced the victim, whose identity was not disclosed, to hand over money and other belongings. It was unclear whether any packages or envelopes were taken.

The victim complied, and the two men allegedly fled, eluding patrol deputies who converged on the location minutes later in response to the mail carrier's 911 call, according to the sergeant.

"During the ensuing investigation, it was determined that several additional robberies and attempted robberies of U.S. Postal Service carriers had occurred in Cathedral City and several cities in Los Angeles County,'' he said.

Working with the USPS' Inspection Service and the District Attorney's Office, investigators turned up leads pointing to Chavarria and Gonzalez as the alleged culprits, Cryder said.

He said the men were located by Burbank Police Department officers on North Third Street in that San Fernando Valley city and taken into custody without incident.  

Neither defendant has documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.

It was not immediately known whether additional charges may be filed in connection with the other alleged holdups blamed on the pair.