Juan Lemus, 29

On March 26, 2016 at approximately 7:52am, Santa Paula police officers were dispatched to the area of the 200 block of March St. for a call of a male subject swinging a rabbit in the air by its ears, and then lighting it on fire. The male subject then fled the area on a bicycle. Officers located a subject matching the suspect's description in the 300 blk S. Steckel Dr. The subject was identified as Juan Lemus, age 29 of Santa Paula. Lemus told officers that he found a rabbit in the street and was already deceased. Lemus told officers that he lit a piece of paper on fire, and not the rabbit. The rabbit was subsequently found in a dirt lot, lying next to a pile of smouldering paper. The rabbit was transported to SPARC for evaluation. The veterinary technicians examined and x-rayed the rabbit. It was determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. Lemus was taken into custody for 597(a)PC- Animal Cruelty, 451PC- Arson, and 459PC- Burglary. Upon being taken into custody, Lemus was found to be in possession of a methamphetamine pipe, and was also charged with 11364(a)HS- Possession of Drug Paraphernelia. An evaluation of Lemus was also conducted to determine if he was under the influence of a controlled substance. The evaluation showed that he was under the influence and was arrested for 11550(a)HS- Being Under the Influence of a Controlled Substance. Lemus was later transported to Ventura County Main Jail.

The Santa Paula Police Department would like to thank the Santa Paula Animal Rescue Center for their assistance in this case.
If anyone has information regarding a missing rabbit, please contact Det. Sgt. Madison at (805) 525-4474 x220.

Nature of Incident:
Animal Cruelty/ Arson
Report Number(s):
SG1600459
Location(s):
200 blk March St.
Dates & Times:
March 26, 2016/ 7:52am
Unit Responsible:
(S)uspects, (V)ictims
City of Residence
Age
(S) Juan Lemus
Santa Paula
29
Press Release Date:
March 26, 2016
Follow-Up Contact:
Sgt. Cody Madison, (805) 525-4474 x220, cmadison@spcity.org

Richard Kutbach, Fillmore, 55

On March 15, 2016, patrol deputies conducted a burglary investigation that involved the theft of the victim’s undergarments. At the deputy’s request, the victim installed trail cameras in her backyard. The following day, the victim discovered some undergarments missing from her residence. Upon checking the trail camera, the victim discovered Richard Kutbach, a longtime acquaintance, entering the residence. A search warrant was served on Kutbach’s residence. Investigators discovered over two dozen garments belonging to the victim. During the interview, Kutbach confessed to entering the victim’s home numerous times and taking the victim’s undergarments due to a longtime attraction to the victim.

Kutbach was arrested for residential burglary and booked at the Ventura County Main Jail. His bail was set at $100,000.00.

Nature of Incident: Residential Burglary Suspect Arrested
Report Number: RB# 16-319190
Location: 300 Block of Second Street
Date & Time: 03/16/16 @ 2:00 PM
Unit(s) Responsible: Fillmore Patrol / Investigations
(S)uspects, (V)ictims, (P)arty, (D)ecedent City of Residence Age
(A) Kutbach, Richard Fillmore 55
Prepared by: Deputy Gene Torres
News Release Date: 3/22/16
Media Follow-Up Contact: Detective Javier Chavez
(805) 524-2233
Approved by: Captain Dave Wareham

Chris and Amy Obringer and family
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The Fillmore Equestrian Center (FEC) now has a new operator, the Obringer family. The contract with the Obringers and the City was approved at Tuesday's Fillmore City Council Meeting. The Obringers come with a strong equestrian background and plans for improving the offerings available at the FEC along with an extensive beautification and reorganization plan.

The Obringers, who live in Simi Valley, have four young children. Amy Obringer is a certified Western and English instructor who founded the Blue Water Youth Ranch in Spokane, Washington which offers youth ranch boarded horses, free riding instructions for foster/adopted children and professional riding lessons. Amy's husband, Chris Obringer, is a Ventura County Sheriff's Department Officer with an Advanced Mounted Officer Certificate. Amy's father, Donnie Waters, has 45 years of equine care and training experience and will be living on site at the FEC.

The Obringers future plans include making over $100,000 in improvements to the Center over the next five years, and partnering with many of our community based organizations: Boys and Girls Club Youth Programs, Veteran's Programs, Fillmore High School Equestrian Club. They also have plans to include summer day camps, horse riding lessons, wild mustang training and vaccination clinics.

The City of Fillmore will receive 7% of the boarding fees the first year with a steady increase to 25% over the ten year contract. The first five years of revenue to the City is expected to total $54,600 with an anticipated $150,000 the remaining 6-10 years.

The response from CONTINUED »

A group of volunteers submitted signatures on Thursday to Fillmore Deputy City Clerk Diana Impeartrice, center, in a bid to place Save Open-space and Agricultural Resources (SOA) on the November ballot. SOAR is a set of existing laws passed in the late 1990s that affect eight Ventura County cities and unincorporated areas. Voter approval is required before agricultural land and open space can be rezoned for development. Fillmore had approximately 20 volunteers, headed by retired firefighter Bob Stroh, left, who were stationed outside of Vons and went door-to-door. Fillmore’s SOAR initiative needed 649 signatures, a percentage of registered voters; they collected 998.

Ventura County Sheriff's Department

A stranded hiker was rescued Tuesday night near Fillmore by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Aviation Unit.

A man who had planned to hike form Fillmore to Ojai on the Sespe Trail reached a point where he felt it was dangerous to continue or go back. He sent a message to his wife via GPS that he needed help. She called the VC Sheriff’s Department and Air Squad 9 was sent out about 8pm to locate and transport the man and his dog back to Fillmore.

They were located in the Sespe Hot Springs area and airlifted out.

No injuries were reported.

2016 Fillmore Boys Soccer CIF Champs.
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2016 CIF trophy.
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Remember the “good ol' days” when the entire town would gather downtown and celebrate our Fillmore High championship teams and homecomings? Good ol’ Fillmore High, over 100 years old, is still producing champions that all of Ventura County can be proud of. This Thursday evening March 24th, 2016, Fillmore High School will be hosting a parade and celebration in downtown Fillmore for their new 2016 California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Boys Soccer Champions. Fillmore High does not have that many CIF Championship banners. There is an elite group of Fillmore High teams that have accomplished this honor. In fact, in the 105 year existence, they have produced 9 CIF Champions. FHS Baseball-4, FHS Boys Cross Country-1, FHS Girls Cross Country-1, FHS Basketball-1, and FHS Boys Soccer-2. Let’s all meet downtown this Thursday evening at 6:30pm for the parade and celebration. After the parade the team will gather near the Town Theater movie marquee for speeches from both coaches and players. Fillmore classic cars will be parked on Central Avenue between Sespe Avenue and Main Street along with food truck vendors. Our local restaurants, La Fondita and Central Station will be open. Let’s celebrate with Fillmore High, our community, and our Champions!

Fillmore High Seniors Jacqueline Tovar, Catherine Alonso, and Misael Ponce have participated in Mock Trial for the last four years.
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Sophomore Paulina Guerrero won a Most Valuable Player award garnering admiration from her team and coaches.
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Written by By Laura Bartels and Anna Morielli

Fillmore High’s legal team made major strides during the Ventura County Mock Trial competition on February 22nd and 23rd. The highlight of the competition was Fillmore’s prosecution received a GUILTY verdict against powerhouse top team La Reina High School of Thousand Oaks. The Fillmore team, now in its fourth year, consisted of 7 seniors, 1 junior, 4 sophomores and 4 freshmen. At the awards ceremony held at the Oxnard Civic Center, senior Matthew Hammond won Ventura County Second Place as campus security guard prosecution witness Lou Williams and sophomore Paulina Guerrero won a Most Valuable Player award garnering admiration from her team and coaches for her leadership. Also honored at the raucous ceremony were seniors Misael Ponce, Jacqueline Tovar, and Catherine Alonso who have participated in mock trial all four years of high school.

This year’s case, People v. Hayes was the trial of Jamie Hayes, a student at Central Coast University (CCU) on a track and field scholarship. Hayes faced a felony charge of murder for the homicide on May 15, 2014, of Lee Valdez, a campus security guard. Hayes raised the affirmative defense of “defense of another” in order to claim the homicide was justifiable. The students portrayed each principal of the cast in a courtroom, including attorneys, witnesses, defendant, court clerk, and bailiff. The trial played out in real courtrooms at the Ventura Superior Court before actual judges and scored by Ventura County practicing attorneys.

The first evening began with a pre-trial motion designed to exclude evidence gained by an illegal search. This year’s pre-trial motion focused on the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination-- “no witness in a criminal case shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.”

The prosecution attorneys, senior Catherine Alonso, senior Naythan Martinez, and sophomore Paulina Guerrero excelled in round two against Rio Mesa High School and again in round three against La Reina High School. Prosecution attorney for pre-trial motion, freshman Fatima Bazurto, strongly presented the prosecution’s argument of why the defendant’s confession was obtained voluntarily after being properly Mirandized and after a lengthy interrogation, confessed. Attorney Bazurto argued that once the defendant was given the Miranda warnings, the interrogation by the police and the police officer’s threats of embarrassment to the defendant’s mother, did not rise to such coercive behavior which would render the confession involuntary. The officer acted reasonably and the interrogation was the result of good police work. The judge was so compelled by Attorney Bazurto’s persuasive nature that he denied the defense’s motion giving Fillmore’s prosecution a huge advantage resulting in a guilty verdict and a WIN in points.

In a strong opening statement, CONTINUED »