2 Arrested in Bank Bombings : Terrorism: The string of explosions occurred earlier this year in the Palm Springs area. The men are being held without bail.

Two San Bernardino County men have been arrested in connection with a string of bank bombings earlier this year in the Palm Springs area, federal authorities said Wednesday.

Lorenz V. Karlic, 33, of Hesperia and Rodney B. Smith, 34, of Mentone were being held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, charged with one count of destroying a federally insured bank with an explosive device, FBI Special Agent Lawrence G. Lawler said.

The charge stems from the June 11 bombing and fire that leveled a Security Pacific National Bank branch in Indio, but FBI authorities said they expect to file additional charges in connection with two earlier bank bombings.

Karlic’s arrest occurred by chance Saturday night when Claremont Police Detective George Dynes, who was driving home from a baseball game, became suspicious after spotting the suspect near the San Antonio Wash in Claremont.

Dynes summoned patrol officers, who took Karlic into custody after finding about $1,600 in counterfeit currency and tools suitable for burglary in his car, Lawler said.

Interviews with Karlic--who was turned over to the FBI and arraigned Tuesday--led investigators to Smith, who was arrested at 1 a.m. Wednesday at a storage facility on Foothill Boulevard in San Bernardino.

During a search of the facility, authorities uncovered “a variety of items”--including “explosive materials”--linking the men to the bombings, FBI spokesman Fred Reagan said.

He would not identify the items, however, and the FBI--citing its ongoing inquiry--declined to comment on a motive for the bombings.

The series of bombings began in early May in Palm Springs and neighboring desert resorts in eastern Riverside County. In response, police stepped up patrols in the business districts, while banks in the region posted guards after business hours and took other unusual security precautions.

From the beginning, authorities believed the explosions were related because each occurred early on a Monday morning and all were centered in or near the banks’ night deposit boxes.

The first incident occurred May 7 at a Bank of America branch in a Palm Springs shopping center. An unidentified explosive device caused a small fire and scattered cash around the bank’s parking lot, resulting in damage estimated at $100,000.

Two weeks later, a bomb ripped through Provident Federal Savings Bank in Rancho Mirage, causing extensive damage to the bank building.

The final and most serious explosion was at the Security Pacific branch on California 111 in Indio. The blast, which was heard by residents more than a mile away, started a blaze that took firefighters four hours to extinguish. The contents of the vault were undamaged, but the building was declared a total loss and the bank has operated since June 12 in a trailer.

Although no one was injured in the explosions, the California Banking Assn. posted a $50,000 reward--the most ever offered by the organization--for information leading to the indictment of the bombers.

“We certainly are very relieved by this news,” Nancy Badely, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco-based association, said Wednesday. “These (bombings) were what we considered acts of terrorism against banks. They showed a total disregard for the safety of others and it was intolerable.”