In the weeks before she allegedly held up six banks in as many days, Heather L. Brown told her probation officer she had been using cocaine and marijuana and was no longer employed.

Brown, 34, was served with a warrant charging her with violation of probation when she appeared Tuesday in New London Superior Court. She was on probation after serving 24 months of a 30-month sentence for a Groton bank robbery.

She is now accused of robbing banks in Montville, Enfield, Middletown, East Hartford, Springfield, Mass., and Westerly, and is being held at the Janet S. York Correctional Institution in lieu of $1.2 million in bond.

Brown's leg irons clanked as she walked out of the courthouse lockup to stand before Judge Susan B. Handy. She had a whispered conversation with public defender Bruce A. Sturman, who knows her from earlier cases and is representing her in the Montville case and the violation of probation. Sturman entered a not guilty plea on her behalf for the bank robbery and a denial of the probation violation. He asked that she be brought back to court on Nov. 3, a day when she has no court appearances in other jurisdictions.

"I checked with Ms. Brown, and that date appears to be free," he said.

Prosecutor Lawrence J. Tytla said Brown's Connecticut cases may eventually be consolidated to one court.

According to the probation-violation warrant, Brown was released from prison on May 22 and was undergoing treatment for a drug problem, but was attending the program only sporadically. On Sept. 3, she called Willimantic probation officer Amy Green to say she had relapsed. Green instructed her to get into a more intensive program and told her to report back on Sept. 9.

Brown reported to probation that day and told Green she was using cocaine and marijuana and no longer employed. Brown told her to report back on Sept. 16. On that day, Brown failed to report. Two days later, Green said Brown called and said she was "stuck in Griswold" and that she was not staying drug free.

Brown had an appointment on Sept. 21, the day she allegedly robbed the Montville bank of $600. She called the probation officer that day and said she was "still stuck in Griswold" and using drugs. State police called Green the same day to inform her Brown was a suspect in the Montville bank robbery.

k.florin@theday.com