Welcome to Farm Watch.

Perfect Storm:
"Two or more events coming together with a disastrous result."

A natural example for our farmers would be the recent combination of wind and freezing temperatures. You can make your own list of perfect storms but being prepared is important.

Rural crime storms are no different. Check this out... I just drove by a gas station and noticed diesel price hovering at $4.60 a gallon. Unrelated, size picked #48 avocados prices are well over $1.30 a pound.

Okay, for me, that means one thing, a perfect storm brewing in rural theft. We can prepare and prevent this scenario from occurring by being vigilant during the next three months when picking Hass and during the summer months picking of Lamb’s. Okay for our non-avocado growers a “Lamb” is type of Hass avocado marketed during the summer.

In addition, evaluate your fueling stations at farms and ranches. Your fuel trailers and tanks should be located in areas where someone can’t just hook up and drive away.

On March 29th a 500 gallon diesel trailer was stolen in the Santa Clara Valley. The fuel trailer has some distinctive markings. I have attached a photo of the actual trailer provided by Detective Darin Hendrin.

Remember, the last time we pursued similar diesel thieves we found them through Farm Watch. Let’s help out! Darin can be contacted at darin.hendrin@ventura.org or 524-2235.

Grocery Cart Bandits:

Okay I know what you think.. Why are we going to talk about thefts at a supermarket? In this case, two bandits brought the supermarket to a South Mountain lemon and avocado orchard. Well they did not really bring the supermarket, but they did bring a supermarket shopping cart to fill with stolen avocados and lemons. The ranch the hit has an owner who is a Farm Watch member and has that farmer, extra-instinct. He noticed the shopping cart hidden down a row of trees. Being quite the detective, the farmer started a search for suspects and sure enough found them hiding face down in some rows.

The two males suspects fled in the orchard. Detective Ramirez responded and with the help of the farmer, they located the suspects fleeing the area. Alejandro Pineda and Adiran Montiel were captured by Detective Ramirez. They both were arrested for Ag-Theft and booked at the Main Jail.

We wish them well on the laundry-detail in jail, where they will have plenty of time for pushing laundry carts.

Fire Thief:

Lets help out our firefighters in Ventura County. Recently they were on an incident on Goodenough Road and a thief entered the Fire Truck and stole two portable Motorolla radios from the truck. People’s lives depend on fire and police radio communications in disasters. If you see Motorolla portable radios listed for sale on Craig’s List send me an email and we will catch the thief. Tim.hagel@ventura.org

Summit Burglar:

Summit school is 1 of about 10 very rural schools in Ventura County. It is in Upper Ojai. “Summit” school is a natural meeting place for families, community groups and basically the epicenter of the area. It is a jewel of the community and the Upper Ojai residents are proud of it.

Recently unknown vandals broke into one of the classrooms and vandalized it during the night. It appears that it may have been juveniles. Let's help the school principal and the students by keeping an eye out for people hanging out at the school after hours, late at night .

Dell Burglar:

During broad daylight, a male suspect entered an active farm office on Wood Road and stole two Dell Laptops. The thirty year-old suspect was described as about 5’5, 175 pounds, Hispanic, short mustache and fled in an older model, 4-door Honda with deteriorating paint.

Tierra Rejada Smash:

A farm on Tierra Rejada had a window smashed out of a farm truck. The unknown suspect(s) took Hoe Hog soil piercing tools. In addition, the farmer had a 400-gallon diesel theft. Another rancher in the Tierra Rejada Valley had a motorhome broken into and ammunition, horse riding gear and a generator stolen.

Barn Theft:

A rancher had his barn broken into on Sycamore Road in the Santa Clara Valley. We are still figuring out what was taken but it is obvious that the suspect “cased” out the farm prior to the theft.

Agave Crooks:

Three male suspects entered a ranch on Casitas Canyon Pass Road and stole Agave. Here is your Farm Watch homework. If you do not know what Agave is, fire up Google or ask a bartender. I mean seriously, what a crazy thing to steal.

Padre Burglars:

Avocado thieves entered a 20-acre orchard on Padre Lane. They used poly-tarps in an attempt to drag off and load up avocados. While working in the orchard, the ranch owner noticed the tarps and signs of the suspects hiding between tree rows. The unknown suspects fled, leaving the pickings behind.

Copper Heads:

Not Lincoln pennies, but copper sprinkler parts. Suspects on Rice Road in the Oxnard Plains came in at night and stole sprinkler heads from a berry farm. Remember, Santa Barbara and our other Northern Counties have been experiencing these sprinkler thefts. This is the first large-scale, sprinkler theft we have had in a while.

Migratory Rain Birds:

It would not surprise me if we may have a perfect storm rising with the precious metal prices soaring again. An additional farm near Rose Avenue had 1000 sprinkler heads stolen. The suspects even cut holes in security fences to help their escape. These were made with brass sprinkler heads. It is important to report any sprinkler thefts to us so we can work with other counties in catching these thugs. If you have unreported thefts of sprinklers, contact Detective Ray Dominguez. Ray.Dominguez@ventura.org

Lapyre:

Suspects moved vehicles and broke into a storage container on Lapyre Road in the Las Posas Valley area. They took numerous tools and a utility trailer.

Cut and Paste:

Again, I know it sounds like a broken record and I could just cut and paste this posting from prior Farm Watch newsletters. Someone has a thing for stealing landscaping equipment in Santa Rosa Valley.

On a weekday, at about 11:00 A.M, an unknown suspect gutted the equipment out of a gardener’s truck on North Escollera Avenue while the gardener was mowing a customer's lawn.

This type of theft has been relentless and going on for a while. We need to work together.

So, put on your Farm Watch Detective hat. Lets assume that the suspect’s will also need to have a truck or van. They will also want to blend into the neighborhood activity at the time of theft and may appear as gardeners themselves.

Keep an eye out for two landscaper gardener trucks parked together for a brief period. Most gardeners work on lawns and yards using just one truck. The bad guys will pull up and move the equipment from the victim's truck to the thief's truck in a matter of seconds to a minute. You know your neighborhood, if it looks suspicious, you need to call us.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling:

That’s what it took four suspects to do when they stole 10 giant rolls of copper wire from a rancher in the Moorpark area. It takes at least four people to move these large rolls of the copper. Copper values are off the charts. China can’t get enough of it and thefts in our agricultural county are tied directly to the price of Copper in China.

Shift Change:

As many of you know the Sheriff's Department uses an assignment movement plan for decades that is modeled after successful military programs. In essence, we move around within our department about every 3 to 5 years.

Why? There are so many reasons, but #1 on the list is to foster continual quality of services we deliver to you.

This is how we have become a premier law enforcement agency.

Okay, so starting in a week, I will be working on criminal investigations out in the East County and Captain Monica Mc Grath will be moving from her present assignment as Assistant Chief of Police in the Camarillo Station. She will fill my Chief of Police position in the Santa Clara Valley.

Monica is a great asset to Farm Watch and our rural crime fighting efforts. I will continue to help Farm Watch on the investigations-side and Monica will carry on the torch.

She is a great crime fighter, sits down at the table every night in a farming family and in my mind the perfect choice.

Monica has done so many great things for the residents of Camarillo, the Oxnard Plains and Las Posas Valley. She will now expand her success to join our 600 county-wide farms, oil facilities, nurseries, supply-packing houses and ranches. Farm Watch is a way of life. A model for other counties to develop.

Being on the Farm Watch Team is the best assignment for anyone on our department. In reality, it is all about you and our team members like Sheriff's Crime Analyst Karen Brown who puts together your maps and digests all the crime data so we can catch these crooks. It is about agricultural theft detectives like Ray Dominguez, Darin Hendrin, Albert Ramirez,Scott Norris and Scott Hardy.

Be safe Farm Watch

your friend,

Tim Geoff Dean - Sheriff

Gary Pentis & John Crombach - Assistant Chiefs

Tim Hagel

Cell 558-8987

Home 529-6941

tim.hagel@ventura.org