VENTURA, CA - District Attorney Gregory D. Totten announced today that Carlos Chavez (DOB 09/21/88), of Oxnard, and Joseph Raymond Valenzuela (DOB 11/19/78), of Santa Paula, were sentenced to two years in county jail, followed by 18 months of supervised release. Earlier this year, both Chavez and Valenzuela entered guilty pleas to felony grand theft and conspiracy, and admitted a special allegation for taking over $200,000 worth of avocados. This matter was investigated by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’s High-Tech Task Force.

Chavez and Valenzuela worked for Mission Produce at a facility in Oxnard. Between January and June of 2017, they sold large amounts of avocados from the facility for cash, then pocketed the proceeds. When sheriff’s deputies executed a search warrant on Chavez’s house, they seized approximately $143,000 in cash from a safe in his bedroom.

As part of his guilty plea, Chavez agreed to forfeit the money for victim restitution. A restitution hearing is scheduled for November 29, 2017, at 8:30 a.m. in courtroom 13 of the Ventura Superior Court, County of Ventura.