Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Trial Ordered in Brinks Holdup

LANCASTER —  The alleged gunman in the attempted robbery of a Brinks armored car guard last month at the Antelope Valley Mall was ordered to stand trial Monday after he rejected a plea bargain that would have given him a seven-year prison sentence.

Alonzo M. Bright, 29, of Inglewood, a reputed gang member on parole, was held to answer on four felony charges by Antelope Municipal Judge Ian Grant after a preliminary hearing. Bright could face nearly 12 years in prison if he is convicted on all charges.

The attempted robbery July 15 in Palmdale was foiled when the Brinks guard, Ronald Vose, shot his two assailants inside the mall’s J. C. Penney store. Sheriff’s deputies arrested Bright and a 17-year-old Inglewood male, both with gunshot wounds, a short time later.

Grant ordered Bright held in lieu of $60,000 bail and set an Aug. 16 arraignment in Lancaster Superior Court. Bright is charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, attempted robbery, commercial burglary and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Pamela Rhodes-Rogers said she plans to add a fifth count against Bright, taking a motor vehicle. Investigators later discovered the Chevrolet Suburban that the assailants used to flee the mall had been stolen from a parking lot near Los Angeles International Airport.

Deputy Public Defender Richard Guluzza announced during the hearing that Bright had rejected the prosecutor’s plea-bargain offer. Bright was captured after he crashed a different car in Palmdale. The youth, who was caught at a nearby store, is being prosecuted in Juvenile Court.