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Farm Watch
 By Monica McGrath — Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012
 FARM WATCH: August - September 2012 Edition WELCOME FARM WATCH READERS! I can't believe it is the Fall season already and we are still experiencing "summer " heat for our county. We have very dry conditions, so needless to say we all need to be diligent in reporting suspicious activity on and around our agricultural properties to safe guard against arsonists. Please DO NOT hesitate to call 911 when you suspect person(s) that do not have the legal authority to be on your property . This is the case for those that might be casing the ranches for potential metal thefts or they could be possible arsonists. On the crime front, Det. Ray Dominguez has been quite busy all around the county, but is pleased with the readers of Farm Watch reporting crimes in an expedient manner. I continue to receive calls from folks that want to be added to this report. SO the bottom line: we depend on all of you to report suspicious activity immediately so we can deliver more effective policing to solve crimes, or at least deter crime in the future ! Agricultural Crimes Detective Ray Dominguez had the following update from his activities and investigations around Ventura County: Folks, I have just a few things to pass along in this edition of Farm Watch. Overall we did pretty well over the Labor Day Weekend with only 2 agriculture related thefts reported. However, since then we have received reports on a variety of thefts/ burglaries occurring in the Fillmore and Oxnard Plains areas. Just as I reported in the last edition, vehicle burglaries continue to be a problem with reports of farm workers’ vehicles getting broken into while they’re working. We’ve also received a report of another drip tape theft in Camarillo and a report of avocado trees being stolen from a ranch property in Fillmore. We have no suspects identified in these cases, but encourage you to call in if you have any information. Well it hasn’t been all “Sour grapes”, as I give kudos to Senior Deputy Steve Buckley for his fine work last week. Senior Deputy Buckley was patrolling the area of Hall Road in the unincorporated area near Fillmore when he observed a pair of suspects, a mother and son duo, that were stealing lemons from a nearby orchard. Steve recognized they had lemons…and he made lemonade by getting both suspects to admit their wrong-doing after catching them red handed! He subsequently arrested the pair for the theft and returned the fruit to the victim. There was one other item of concern that comes from our detective partners in the East County area. Detective Tom Wooff is investigating a theft in which suspect(s) stole a bunch of brass water meters, brass fittings, and fire hydrants!!!!!!! Please contact Detective Wooff at tom.wooff@ventura.org with any information you may have regarding this theft. As always…stay safe and stay vigilant! The following advice is always wise if you suspect illegal activity on your property: Call the Sheriff’s Office immediately at 911. If you are not sure of how to address the problem or would like additional crime prevention tips please contact your local Sheriff’s Office substation or Detective Ray Dominguez directly at (805) 384-4726 or by email at ray.dominguez@ventura.org. Contacts: Camarillo Detective Mark Corriea, mark.corriea@ventura.org Fillmore Detective John Fox john.fox@ventura.org Ventura Detective Christine Rettura Christine.rettura@ventura.org Agricultural Crimes Detective, Ray Dominguez at Ray.Dominguez@ventura.org As always, we would like to thank Sheriff’s Crime Analyst Karen Brown and Det. Ray Dominguez, for this issue’s great crime and alert update. Be alert and always safe! Monica (797-6338) Geoff Dean - Sheriff John Crombach and Gary Pentis - Assistant Sheriffs |
