FONTANA -- After hearing testimony from three alleged victims, a judge ruled Wednesday that prosecutors can try the accused 'Granny Bandit' on four counts of robbery.
The alleged victims each said they feared for their lives in May when confronted by a middle-aged woman holding a handgun and wearing a colorful headscarf.
"I was so worried my daughter was going to see her mother getting shot," said a woman who cried during her testimony in Fontana Superior Court. "I felt like I was going to die."
Dodi Wasbotten, 50, is accused of robbing four women at gunpoint in store parking lots in Fontana between May 8 and May 11.
She was arrested the afternoon of her final alleged robbery, and officers discovered several items in her car that were reported stolen in the robberies, including a purse and credit cards, according to police testimony.
Officers also found a replica pistol made of clear plastic but colored with black marker, according to police testimony.
Wasbotten allegedly used similar techniques in the four robberies, according to victims who testified Wednesday.
She would allegedly approach women in store parking lots as they were loading bags into their cars, threaten them with a gun, and demand that they hand over their purses, according to court testimony.
The four robberies allegedly committed by Wasbotten include:
-- May 8 at 11:30 a.m. at Kohl's, 14960 Summit Ave.
-- May 9 at 8 p.m. at Target, 16964 Slover Ave.
-- May 10 at 11 a.m. at Wal-Mart, 17251 Foothill Blvd.
-- May 11 at 9:45 a.m. at Target, 15272 Summit Ave.
Wasbotten was arrested May 11 at about 1 p.m. following a traffic stop near Sierra Avenue and the 15 Freeway.
A Fontana police crime analyst saw Wasbotten's car and recognized it from vehicle descriptions provided by robbery victims, police said.
Wasbotten, who was wearing an orange jail-issued jumpsuit in court, remained jailed Wednesday in lieu of $500,000 bail at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga.
She is next due Sept. 1 in Fontana Superior Court.