Two men have been charged in connection with three violent business holdups in and around San Francisco's Mission District in an eight-day period, prosecutors said.
Lloyd Gage, 33, of Fremont, and Jacquez Tucker, 32, of San Francisco, pleaded not guilty Thursday to accusations including robbery, burglary, aggravated kidnapping, false imprisonment and weapons charges, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office announced the following day.
At three businesses between Sept. 26 and Oct. 4, victims were forced to the floor or taken into back rooms at gunpoint while the thieves made off with cash and merchandise, prosecutors said.
In two cases, the victims were pistol-whipped and the businesses' ATMS were stolen.
If convicted of all charges, each man faces up to life in prison.