No New Year's Party for Poway Mom

A local bank-robbing mom of five seemed surprised by Thursday's court developments.

Roxanne Pennock, 37, was arrested Wednesday, accused of robbing two Poway banks. In December, she admitted her role in two other robberies in Riverside County.

In court Thursday, she pleaded not guilty to three counts -- two counts of bank robbery and a single count of attempted bank robbery -- and the superior court judge ordered her held without bail. Pennock seemed to be astonished by the decision and repeatedly asked her attorney if she could say something, but he apparently talked her out of her request.

Pennock was taken into custody Wednesday at a traffic stop not far from her Poway residence.

"I think she was surprised in part because she thought she was done," Detective Chris Cross said. "Because she had pled guilty to the two counts in Riverside, I don't think she realized she was still facing two counts here in Poway."

Pennock was first arrested on Nov. 6 after Temecula police spotted a red minivan traveling southbound on Interstate 15. The van matched the description of a vehicle used in the robbery of a Chase Bank on Temecula Parkway.

Pennock was free on $25,000 bail until her arrest on Wednesday.

If Pennock pleads guilty to the local bank robbery charges, she could face up to six years and eight months in prison, according to assistant district attorney Allison Worden. Pennock has already been sentenced to two years in connection to the Riverside County robberies.

The Poway mom is due back in court in San Diego on Jan. 12.

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