A man police said has only lived in Colorado Springs for a few months was accused of robbing two banks and trying to rob a third bank in a one-week period, according to police reports.

Kurtis Robert Alva, 28, was arrested Friday on suspicion of aggravated robbery and attempted robbery and booked into the El Paso County jail, records show.

Alva was detained about 10:45 a.m. near Garden of the Gods Road and Chestnut Street when a robbery unit detective alleged he matched the description of a man who had been involved in two bank robberies and one attempted bank robbery recently, police said.

Alva was allegedly wearing clothing that matched witness descriptions from a previous bank robbery and police said he was found in possession of items that indicated he could be preparing to rob another bank.

The first robbery was reported Aug. 7 about 4:30 p.m. at the Wells Fargo branch on 5710 Constitution Ave., when bank employees told police a man had entered the bank and demanded money, then fled the scene on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash.

On Aug. 13, the Chase Bank at 4190 Austin Bluffs Pkwy., off North Academy Boulevard, was robbed about 1:40 p.m., police said. Witnesses told police that a man possibly in his mid-20s had fled on foot from the bank with an undisclosed amount of cash.

The next day, a man whose description allegedly matched witness descriptions from the two previous robberies tried to hold up the TCF Bank at 2870 New Center Pt. Security guards at the bank thwarted the robber’s attempts and he fled the bank empty-handed, police Lt. Catherine Buckley said.

The robber did not display a weapon in any of the three reported robberies, Buckley said. In both completed robberies, a demand note was shown to a bank teller to obtain money and the robber left on foot in all three incidents.

Alva moved to Colorado Springs in recent months and previously lived in Florida and Michigan, police said. He will be advised of the charges at the El Paso County courthouse Monday, records show.

Anyone with information on this case can call police at 444-7000.

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Contact Andrea Sinclair

(719)636-0235

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Kurtis Robert Alva, 28,