Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Bank Heist Suspect Faces 2nd Trial : Crime: Alex Yepes, acquitted of robbery counts, is charged with kidnapping and assault in the same incidents.

VAN NUYS â€”  A Valencia man acquitted of federal bank robbery charges last year was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on assault and kidnaping charges related to the same robberies.

Alex Yepes, 26, will be arraigned July 12 in San Fernando Superior Court on 45 counts connected to the 1993 robberies of banks in Northridge and Canyon Country in which bank officials were held captive in their homes the night prior to the robberies.

If convicted, Yepes faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. He remains in custody in county jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Chad Michael Pelch, 24, of Saugus, who pleaded guilty to the bank robbery charges in federal court and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, was also ordered to stand trial in Superior Court on similar charges.

Two other men, Donald Patrick Sallee, 26, of Santa Clarita, and Brett Pelch, 27, of Valencia, were also charged in both federal and superior courts, but both men have remained at large since the heists.

A fifth man, Darren Patrick Towers, 25, of Saugus, also pleaded guilty to the federal bank robbery charges and testified against Yepes in federal court. Towers, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison, has not been charged in Superior Court because he will probably testify against Yepes and Pelch, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan D. Chasworth.

Chasworth said it was still possible that Towers could be charged in state court. She declined to discuss whether he had struck a deal with her office in exchange for his testimony.

Yepes acknowledges knowing the other men charged in the bank robberies but maintains his innocence. He claims he was with friends the night before the first robbery and at a concert the night prior to the second heist.

He was acquitted in federal court last Oct. 26, but was rearrested in February and charged anew in Superior Court.

The charges stem from the June 11, 1993, robbery of a TransWorld Bank office in Canyon Country, and the Sept. 17, 1993, robbery of a Coast Federal Bank branch in Northridge. On the nights before both robberies, a group of gunmen invaded the homes of bank officials and held them and their families captive in their homes. The following mornings, gunmen accompanied the bank officers to their branches and forced them to open vaults while their relatives were still held at gunpoint. The robbers stole more than $107,000 from each bank.

After a preliminary hearing that lasted for several days, stretched over four weeks, San Fernando Municipal Judge Roy M. Carstairs concluded there was a “strong suspicion� that the two men committed the crimes despite some inconsistencies in the testimony of some witnesses.

Yepes’ attorney, Gerald V. Scotti, argued unsuccessfully that the charges should be dropped because some witnesses changed their stories from the testimony they offered in federal court. He also argued that the filing of charges in state court was vindictive.

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Scotti, however, was not surprised that his client was ordered to stand trial on the charges.

“Preliminary hearings are really a farce,� he said outside the courtroom.

Chasworth, however, said that the two men were appropriately held to answer to the charges because the evidence against them is strong and the alleged crimes, while stemming from the same incidents, are different than those alleged in the federal charges.

“Kidnaping, false imprisonment, assault and grand theft auto are not even crimes that can be prosecuted in federal court,� Chasworth said. “This is a prosecution based on the strength of the evidence.�