Good Afternoon Farm Watch...
We just got back a few minutes ago from staffing your rural Deputies and Sheriff's teen mentors as volunteers at the Piru Parade. What a great snapshot of rural life. Hay wagons, kids on bicycles, kids being pulled by animals, pickups filled with cub scouts and Middle school children marching to holiday tunes.

We want to thank Sheriff's staff Jane David and Leanne Thompson for all their help making this a true community event. They passed out over donated 2000 books to children.
It was all part of our literacy campaign to prevent crime.
Really, it chokes you up and makes you proud to be a rural resident of Ventura County.

Speaking of being proud......

VALOR:
What is Valor? We all have it. The military defines Valor as: The qualities of a hero or heroine with exceptional or heroic courage when facing danger (especially in battle). Yesterday (December 10th), Deputy Traci Salmon displayed valor when she battled for her life and won after being brutally attacked in a rural area of Casitas Pass. Traci had responded to a 911 hang up call that went bad. Alone, battling hand to hand with a crazed suspect, she refused to give up. She fought with all her might, shot and stopped the man trying to kill her, called for help and displayed her Valor.

It doesn't surprise me as Traci is a friend to all of us in Fillmore and Ojai, an Iraq War veteran and one of our best deputies.

After she put out her emergency message, and followed her training , she kept the suspect contained. In minutes, Fish and Game Wardens, USFS Rangers and fellow local police, CHP and deputies swarmed the area.

Because of her actions, she saved lives.........You can see her amazing and complete story at any of our local online news media.

Today, she is my definition of Valor. She is alive today because of her Valor.

Please take a moment and write a note to Traci at traci.salmon@ventura.org she would love to hear your words of encouragement. We can't wait for her to be back at work.....

FOOD SHARE:
Feeding our disadvantaged residents of Ventura County. Food Share of Ventura County has fed 54,000 hungry people in Ventura County and is an important partner with all local farmers. Deputies recently watched as food share packages were being shared at One Step A La Vez in Fillmore.

One Step is a food share provider and Sheriff's partner in preventing crime. Our Sheriff's youth explorers are mentors at One Step of Fillmore. The families recognized on food share day each week truly need the help.

What does this have to do with Farm Watch and rural crime? A lot. People have to possess dignity and a community helping them during these tough times gives them that! When we as a rural community leverage partnerships between farmers, law enforcement and centers such as One Step in Fillmore, we in fact prevent crime.

DESPERADO:
Seems that our Craig's List crooks are at it again. A different angle this time. They are so desperate to rip off our local ranchers. 22 year old Kyle Campbell of Camarillo used Craig's List to find local ranchers selling Avocado trimmings in the Grimes Canyon area. This flat out crook, never intended to buy the wood.

Once he learned where the rancher stored the wood stacks, he simply advertised to sell the same wood and stopped by and picked up the orders from the rancher. The problem is the rancher was not part of the deal. He just wood (Get it?) steal the avocado trimmings after the ranch closed up each day. Truckloads after truck loads.

Moorpark Deputies got wind of his thievery, they set up a surveillance plan of stakeouts and caught him in the act. Hey think about it? Now maybe Kyle can work at our Todd Road Jail Lemon Orchard when he is sentenced and doing time. A big thanks to the Moorpark deputies who keep our farm and nurseries safe.

LEMON SCENT:
What will they think of? A rancher on the 250 block of Casitas Pass just had their battery stolen out of their wind machine that protects their lemons from frost. This is the second type theft in two months. Remember last month they stole radiators from wind machines. So check them regularly.

VEHICLE THEFTS:
Day time crooks have been at it in the Oxnard Plains (Laguna Road) and Somis (Donlon) area. Once again they have broke into cars used by our local farm workers. This time they stole stereos out of the locked car. In the same event, they caused damage to the car while breaking in. Always teach your foreman's to keep an eye on your workers cars. During the picking season, they local crooks also break into contract labor cars because they know that they are not likely to report the thefts for fear of law enforcement. This is a cultural wall with migrant workers that we want to break down. A victim is a victim and we are here to help....

FLOWER BURGLAR:
Well he didn't take flowers but he targeted a flower grower on West Doris Avenue in the Oxnard Plains. Using the cover of darkness, the suspect broke through a door and ransacked the nursery office.The thief took computers, cameras and other electronics.

PAYROLL THEFT:
An unknown thief broke into a food processing location on Hueneme Road and stole payroll checks. We have seen a rise in these type of thefts. The suspects often target our rural businesses for checks and then the stolen checks with co-conspirators who alter them and cash them at cash checking locations. We talked about another victim last Farm Watch. Remember, keep these as secure as cash, don't keep large amounts of checks where a night time burglar can get to them.

CUT AND PUMP:
That's what this burglar did. Cut out a 50 pound irrigation ditch water pump right off the pad and stole the pump. All that was left was the wires he cut. Keep an eye out in Craig's List for check pumps. You can email me with any ads you see and we will have detectives check them out. tim.hagel@ventura.org

CAT BURGLAR:
Only a cat chasing a mouse would think to prowl around a nursery late and night and ransack a nursery on West Santa Rosa Road. Seems a burglar broke into the nursery office and stole electronic gear. This nursery was well secured and no checks or cash were taken.

ITS THYME:
Time to catch these guys. I mean how low can you go. A 25 acre herb farm in Fillmore was hit late at night for 150 pounds of Thyme and Oregano stolen right out of the ground. They spent hours and hours at night picking the crops, packaging and then split before daylight. Our farmer ships Thyme across the nation and lost their ability to ship the following day. If you see someone working late at night in a neighboring farm and it doesn't fit the profile of normal farm operations, call us! We will check it out. Worse case if it is not a crime, our Deputy makes a new friend. Best case for us, we catch a crook with Farm Watch help.....

BROADWAY BURGLAR:
12000 block of Broadway in Moorpark. A burglar wanted more than lemons from a local orchard caretaker. He broke into a house during the day and stole a Samsung Flat Screen right off the wall. Remember folks, when away during the day, lock the doors.. It just makes sense nowadays.

SCOTT PETERS THIEF:
No, that is not the name of the burglar. That is the name of the brand of fertilizer stolen from a farm on the 3500 block of Pleasant Valley Road in Camarillo. The farmer had thousands of pounds of Scott Peters 20-202-20 and 10-30-20 soluble fertilizer stolen. The crooks broke into the yard, stole the forklift and used it to load pallets after pallets. We are really getting tired of these crooks doing this to our Farm Watch community. They have the edge on us, with late night access. So, we brain stormed and until we can get this stopped, we are going to have our deputies stop flatbeds on the plains late at night that have fertilizer. Please have your workers educated about why we may stop them. If late at night, we cant find proof of ownership for the fertilizer it will confiscated until we can find the owner. If you move pallette style bagged fertilizer late at night, let us know and we will make sure your local deputy is aware. Always have a bill of lading with the driver on bulk movements.

WHEELS UP..OOPS I MEAN WHEELER:
Wheeler Canyon is our newest location for Diesel theft. A crook broke into a 500 gallon tank late at night and stole 250 gallons of diesel. Keep a watch out for headlights in your orchards late at night, call 911.

HORSE PLAY:
Not in the positive sense. We have had an issue on Tierra Rejada with a equestrian boarder not paying their bill and attempting to abscond ( I love that word) with the horse. A sort of dine and dash, but in this case a ride and dash. In our case, Moorpark Deputies were able to mediate the dispute. Remember Horse Boarding operations do have some specific rights to collect unpaid fees and even auction abandoned horses. Contact USEF or other equestrian organizations for more details. www.usef.org

4 PLY PAPER THIEF:
This Farm Watch Newsletter is filled with the bizarre. Last week, on the 12,500 block of Highway 126 between Piru and Fillmore, a suspect broke into a farm house storage-shed and loaded up two cases of toilet paper onto a stolen dolly and proceeded to cart away the loot. They left the paper and rolls in the orchard and must have been spooked. I could think of a million dumb burglar jokes but I'll just leave it up to you. This is the craziest attempt burglary in Ventura County for 2010.

COPPER THEFT:
Once again a South Mountain oil facility was hit for their electrical copper wires. They use thousands of feet for feeding electricity to remote wells. If you have any tips of a crooked online or shady recycling center that is a buyer or seller of stolen used metals give us an anonymous call or email. We are best tooled up to find the fence buying the stolen metal.

HOLIDAY SAFETY:
Under the command of Captain Cliff Williams, Our CHP Farm Watch partners remind everyone to be safe while driving during the holidays. Drivers can be distracted by use of cell phones and cross right over into your lane. Call 911 to report drunk drivers. We will be setting up drunk driver checkpoints in areas for the next two weeks. Half of all fatalities on our roads during this month are from drunk drivers.

WANTED:
As you recall, Detective Ray Dominguez headed up a six county task force that spent 6 months chasing rural thieves known as the Connex Burglars. They are an organized crime ring from Central America. They have hit Ventura County farmers, nurseries and ranches for nearly a quarter million dollars in stolen equipment. Last month, Ray and his team broke open the ring and made arrests. They made the arrests with tips from Farm Watch. We need more help. We have attached a wanted poster for the leader of the ring. He is wanted by the Federal Government and Ventura County. Do not attempt to arrest him. Call 911 if you see him. Show his picture to your farm workers. He is a wanted man, running from us, and yes, he can hide. But with Farm Watch, he will eventually be caught and serve time behind bars.

Thanks Farm Watch

Your Friend...
Tim
Tim Hagel
Captain
Ventura County Sheriff
BOB BROOKS SHERIFF