Wife of Suspected Bank Robber Denies Charges : Crime: She says she was shocked by her husband’s arrest and calls him a ‘decent’ man.

The wife of a former car salesman charged last week with robbing three banks in Orange County and fleeing in a Mercedes-Benz denied Monday that her husband had anything to do with the crimes.

Charlotte Carr, 46, said she was shocked by her husband’s arrest and described him as a decent man.

“My husband has been decent all his life,” she said. “There’s a mistake there.”

Federal authorities allege that George Christian Carr, 60, took more than $36,000 in three bank robberies, then drove off in a Mercedes driven by a woman. He was ordered held without bond Monday during a brief hearing in U.S. District Court.

Charlotte Carr is the registered owner of a Mercedes 380 SE that FBI agents believe was used in the robberies. However, she has not been charged in the robberies.

FBI spokesman Gary Morley would not comment on whether she is a suspect in the bank robberies, but he said the search to identify the woman is continuing.

One of George Carr’s attorneys, Angela Oh, said her client is innocent.

“He will vigorously defend against the charges,” Oh said. “We’ve already entered not-guilty pleas.”

Federal authorities said the series of robberies began last December at Hawthorne Savings in Mission Viejo. In that robbery, a man brandished a handgun at two tellers and took $5,735.

The second robbery happened Dec. 23 at Orange National Bank in Orange, and the robber escaped with $14,757, according to court documents filed in the case.

The third robbery in which George Carr is charged occurred Feb. 24 at a Great Western Bank branch in Irvine. Nearly $16,000 in $50 and $100 bills was taken during the robbery, authorities said. That bank holds the mortgage on Carr’s $750,000 home, according to court documents.

Investigators said there were distinctive similarities among the three holdups. In each, the robber brandished a pistol, described as a .38-caliber Smith and Wesson, wore either a dark ski mask or a rubber mask, and fled in a light-colored Mercedes driven by a woman.

A teller in the latest robbery jotted down the license plate number of the alleged getaway car, authorities said. Carr was arrested Thursday at his home in Lemon Heights.

Described by neighbors as an avid gambler, Carr owes the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas $10,000 in gambling debts and has not paid his $4,600 monthly mortgage since last December, according to court documents.

Charlotte Carr said in an interview that she found out about the unpaid bills through the recent newspaper articles, but she said the debts would be settled.

“He didn’t want to tell me about them,” she said. “But now that I know, it will be taken care of. We have money.”

During Monday’s hearing, U.S. District Judge Ronald W. Rose said he considers George Carr a flight risk and a danger to the community, citing the two pistols found in Carr’s home last week during a search by FBI agents and police.