Welcome Farm Watch subscribers to this Fall Edition. The good news is that total crime rates in the Agricultural communities in Ventura County were down overall. The main areas of concern continue to be metal thefts (all kinds) and a slight rise in conex storage box thefts. We are tracking all of the reports to identify specific trends and to develop leads for potential suspects. The entire county seems to fall victim of the random thefts, therefore developing solid leads can be difficult. Please continue to call in ANY suspicious persons / vehicles that should not be on your property or perhaps in the general area. The overall theme to the crime issues listed below is theft of metals, where the suspects clearly steal a variety of items from sprinkler heads to hoop house support posts. This trend is state-wide and our officers have been on alert for this type of theft which has plagued our county for several months now. We have had some success in arresting and prosecuting these criminals, however, they are just so dominant county-wide, that we truly rely on our citizens to call if they see anything at all suspicious. The following were reported crimes specific to our agricultural communities:

On Cawelti Road in the unincorporated area of Camarillo, a large farm was the victim of a grand theft of irrigation equipment / supplies. The victim believes the suspect(s) may have been working from a “Shopping list” as they were selective in what they stole.

Theft of Hoop House Support Posts: A flower nursery located on Santa Rosa Rd. was the victim of a grand theft of new steel green hoop house support posts. The new posts were delivered a few days prior to the reported theft.

On Wood Rd. near Pacific Coast Highway, a local business was the victim of a fertilizer theft. The suspect(s) entered via a neighboring farm road and accessed the victim’s outdoor storage area by cutting through a perimeter chain link fence. See attached flyer for details.

A second theft of Hoop House Support Posts: A nursery located on Santa Rosa Rd. was the victim of a grand theft of approximately 4000 steel hoop house support posts. The suspects(s) cut a chain link fence and entered the property from an adjacent lemon orchard. Some of the posts were located at a local recycling center in Oxnard and suspects have been identified. This is an on-going investigation that will likely lead to multiple arrests.

Landscape equipment stolen from Grand Ave. in Fillmore where the suspect(s) forced entry into the victim’s storage yard and stole various pieces of landscaping equipment.

Venco Western Co. had their storage yard located on Tierra Rejada Rd. in Moorpark targeted for a burglary. Unknown suspects forced entry into the yard by removing the chain link gates and entering a conex storage container. The suspects forced entry into a large truck that was parked in front of the storage container doors and pushed out of the way. The suspects stole various items of high-end landscape equipment including gas-powered mowers, blowers, edgers and trimmers.

Oceanview Produce – located on Sturgis Rd. in Oxnard was the victim of a grand theft of brass sprinkler heads. The suspect(s) snapped the sprinkler heads off of the risers and rendered them useless. It appears the sprinkler heads were taken and will most likely be taken to a recycling center to be sold as scrap metal.

Prevention Tips:

As always, the Sheriff’s Office encourages you to take preventive measures to secure and protect your property including the use of high quality locks, security lighting, surveillance cameras, and marking your property with identifiable numbers.

In addition, please order only what you need and avoid stockpiling supplies because doing so will only make your operation more attractive to thieves. If you must keep large supplies on hand, please ensure that they are kept out of sight and in a secure facility.

Contacts:

Fillmore Detective Darin Hendren darin.hendrin@ventura.org or 524-2235

Ventura Detective Christine Rettura Christine.rettura@ventura.org 662-6770

Agricultural Crimes Detective, Ray Dominguez at Ray.Dominguez@ventura.org

Camarillo Detective Nora Soler, at Nora.soler@ventura.org

I would like to thank Sheriff’s Crime Analyst Karen Brown who puts together your maps and digests all the crime data along with Det. Ray Dominguez who assists tremendously with the crime summaries.

Be alert and always safe!

Monica (797-6338)

Geoff Dean - Sheriff
Gary Pentis & John Crombach - Assistant Sheriffs