Ventura County Sheriff's Department

Sheriff Jim Fryhoff has released the 2022 crime statistics for all areas served by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.The report shows a 3% overall decrease in Part I crimes, as defined by the Uniform Crime Reporting statistics of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In 2022, the number of incidents involving violent crime decreased 24%. Homicides, however, doubled from 4 in 2021 to 8 in 2022. Of those 8 homicides, 4 of them were committed between family members. Property crimes saw a decrease of 1%, while residential burglaries showed a decrease of 12%.

“Community partnerships, outreach, education, teamwork, and having strong relationships with the other public safety agencies, and anyone with an interest in safe communities, is our overarching strategy for reducing crime,” said Sheriff Jim Fryhoff. “We must be ever vigilant and prepared to address the threats that our communities are facing. Fentanyl, organized retail theft, burglary crews, and catalytic converter thefts continue to be the main causes of our property crimes in Ventura County. Our commitment is to partner with all willing stakeholders to prevent crime, identify those involved when crime does occur, work with our District Attorney’s Office to prosecute offenders, and keep Ventura County one of the safest counties in the country.”

Note: Each geographical area in Ventura County is unique, and crime trends vary from city to city. For questions regarding each city’s reported crimes, the following people can be reached directly:

Commander Eric Tennessen – Camarillo (805) 797-7102
Commander Jeremy Paris– Thousand Oaks (805) 797-7105
Captain Darin Hendren – Moorpark (805) 532-2705
Captain Eduardo Malagon– Fillmore (805) 477-7108
Captain Trina Newman – Ojai (805) 477-7039

For more information, please visit us at venturasheriff.org. You can also link directly to a statement by Sheriff Fryhoff that details our mission, strategy, and vision as well as Sheriff Fryhoff’s Seven Pillars for providing law enforcement services in Ventura County.For information regarding recruitment and job opportunities, please visit applyventurasheriff.org.

Prepared by: Captain Cameron Henderson
Approved by: Sheriff Jim Fryhoff

Above is the Chaney Ranch on Guiberson Road, after the flood hit.
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Courtesy Fillmore Historical Museum

We are sharing an article originally published in Empire magazine, March 4, 1951 and then reprinted in Reader’s Digest, April 1951 which was written by William F. French, father of Dr. William French who practiced in Fillmore for many years. Our thanks to Susan M. J. French for sending it to us.

The Dam with the Feet of Clay, By William F. French

Monday, March 12, 1928, dawned clear and sunny over California’s lush Santa Clara Valley with its orchard of citrus, walnuts and apricots – and over the lake that sparkled behind St. Francis dam, a mighty concrete barrier thrown across a wild canyon high above the valley. No hint of impending disaster disturbed the surface of the giant reservoir which store 1,600,000,000 cubic feet of water for thirsty Los Angeles, 45 miles o the south. But Dan Mathews, an employee at Powerhouse No. 2, a mile and a half below the dam wasn’t looking at the scenery that morning. He saw only trickles of muddy water running down the west wing of the dam and oozing around its end.

Completed two years before at a cost of $2,500,000, the dam had been the subject of heated controversy from its inception. Below it, Santa Clara Valley growers had sought injunction after injunction to prevent its construction; they feared it could never be anchored firmly enough in the adobe and shale walls of the canyon. Above it, embattled ranchers had dynamited the aqueduct that carried the water past their lands, and had killed Los Angeles water-system guards. Despite the litigation and open warfare, Los Angeles had backed the judgment of William Mulholland, chief engineer of the city’s water system, and the dam was finished in May, 1926.

To Dan Mathews the water seeping out from the dam’s west wing that day in March 1928 spelled trouble. He couldn’t risk spreading panic with what might be a false alarm, but he did report his discovery to his superior. Then he warned his brother to get his family out of the cabin by the powerhouse.

That night in Bardsdale, 28 miles below the dam, the George Boardmans put out their lights with the usual feeling of security. Across the little Santa Clara River, in Fillmore families were returning from the movies. Upstream, near the town of Piru, men in the power company’s construction gang had let their campfires burn low and fastened their tent flaps.

Unknown to anyone, the trickles of water seeping around the dam had turned now into streams that gnawed at its feet of clay. About midnight the dam let go at both ends. Twelve billion gallons of water went thundering toward the sea – a 125-foot-high deluge of death and destruction. Powerhouse No. 2 was engulfed in one roaring splash. The houses of its workers were buried under tons of mud and broken concrete. Not a soul escaped.

With demoniac fury the gigantic wave cut a channel toward the Santa Clara River. Soon the roaring wall of water, now carrying automobiles, railroad cars, houses and tractors, spewed into beautiful Santa Clara Valley.

There it spread out, rolling and tossing huge boulders like pebbles snatching up trees and houses, tearing bridges from their foundations, ripping up railroad tracks, snapping poles and power lines. There is a fall of 1200 feet from the dam site to Piru, a hundred million horsepower of merciless destruction roared down upon the 20,000 residents of the Santa Clara Valley’s mile-wide strip of orchard and garden. Traveling at express-train speed, the great wave struck the power company’s construction camp. Not a man there had time to get his tent-flap open before the whole camp, heavy equipment and all, was carried away.

So unexpected and deadly swift was the charge of the water that an estimated 50 cars were swept off Highway 126 paralleling the Santa Clara River. Some drivers lived to report outrunning the flood, but those caught where the road was close to water level never had a chance. Weeks later, automobiles were dug out of the debris and mud 20 miles from where they were engulfed. Others, believed to have been washed into the ocean, were never found.

After having destroyed the construction camp and all but five of the 80 men in it, the deluge reached the Boardman home in Bardsdale, ten miles downstream. George Boardman recalls:

“That night my 14-year-old son Donald and I were sleeping in the tenant house. I woke up to find the place rocking like a ship in a hurricane. Suddenly the little house was tossed in the air. It landed on its side, lodged in the top of a giant walnut tree. We fought free of the building, for the big tree was already being uprooted. As we worked our way shoreward from treetop to treetop, the terrible force of the torrent threatened to wrench our arms from their sockets.

“The first big wave smashed everything in its path and swept the debris along like a battering ram. It was a mile long an it passed through like a runaway train, but we were in the 30-feet-deep water that followed it for half an hour.

“Above the roar of the water leveling our beautiful citrus groves we could hear the crash and smashing of houses and breaking trees and poles. Parts of houses, splintered timbers and tree trunks striped of limbs would shoot out of the water and crash on the racing maelstrom of debris. That was the most horrible thing about the flood – the deadly debris. We saw a two by four pierce the side of one of our horses, and heard his almost human screams. Cries and shouts for help came from all sides. Somehow Donald and I reached dry land, a mile downstream.”

More than 600 homes were destroyed that night. An estimated 700 lives were swallowed up by the avalanche of water which wiped out the low-lying parts of Castaic, Camulos, Bardsdale, Piru, Fillmore, Santa Paula and Saticoy. The flood passed quickly (rescue workers were crossing the riverbed on foot by nine in the morning) but it left a 50-mile long swath of uprooted orchards and debris covered land.

Citrus grower Frank LeBard, whose rescue efforts started while the waters were at their height, shudders in recalling what happened. “It was ten times worse than a flood. The water wasn’t merely driving people from their homes – it was killing. I saw sudden whirlpools drag struggling humans and animals out of sight. Cries for help were cut short by blows from the whirling debris.

“Hitched to a tree by a rope, I waded out as far as I could stand the pull of the current. I grabbed a man. When I laid him out I saw a heavy bolt sticking through his head.”

The flood performed weird tricks. A month after the calamity, a man from Bardsdale saw what looked like his horse working in a field near Saticoy, 20 miles away. The farmer using the animal said he had dug it out of the mire at the foot of his property.

Response to the area’s needs was swift. The day after the disaster a half-dozen field hospitals werein operation and Red Cross tents lined the 50 miles from the dam to the sea. Hundreds of professional and volunteerworkers searched for the living and the dead in 20-foot-deep silt and debris.

President Coolidge telegraphed an offer of federal help. But Los Angeles seemed to be meeting all needs. It was sending caravans of trucks, scrapers, power shovels and derricks, and soon had more than a thousand workers in the stricken valley.

More than compassion inspired its efforts. The city had constructed the dam in the face of bitterprotestsfrom the people in the area. Recognizing its liability, it was attempting to meet its moral obligations.

The city began paying damage claims less than a week after the dam broke. “Los Angeles didn’t quibble in settling,” recalls George Boardman. “Here in Ventura County we were allowed $500 an acre for damage to land without trees, and up to $3000 an acre for prime groves that weredestroyed. Death benefits of $7000 to $10,000 a person were paid.” While it is not known how much Los Angeles paid in all, residents of the valley say $30,000,000 is close.

On March 17 Governor Young ordered a state investigation of the tragedy, and William Mulholland, father of the original project, inspected the ruins of the dam and the desolated valley. The grief-stricken engineer accepted full responsibility. His final statement to the investigating jury was, “I envy those who died.”

Mulholland immediately retired from active duty and, within a short time, died. The St. Francis dam had claimed its final victim.

Courtesy Jan Lee

April 15 and 16, 2023 are the dates for the Fillmore Flower Show for 2023. The theme is “Garden Treasures”. It should be a beautiful event again this year. Plan to enter some of the lovely treasures growing in your yard. If you go to fillmoreflowershow.org you will see all the rules to enter as well as the many divisions of plants and flowers.

The Flower Show committee, a group of volunteers who appreciate the garden treasures growing in the yards of the Fillmore community, has broadened the eligibility for youth this year. We want to encourage young people to go outside and discover the fun of growing, arranging and displaying plants and flowers. There are three divisions specifically for youth: Division IX Youth Arrangements, Division X Youth Composition and Division XI Youth Art, which is a non-competitive division. Ordinarily, youth must live within the boundaries of the Fillmore Unified School District to enter. But, starting this year, any youth may enter no matter where they live. Youth are age 3 up through 12th grade. All youth entries are FREE. Of course, youth may compete with the adults in any division.

At the Flower Show there will be a plant boutique where you can get some plants to grow in your garden. There will also be a table where children can participate in a gardening activity. While strolling around looking at the displays, you will be entertained by live music. From 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday the Flower Show will be open to the public. Admission is free. See you there!

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On Monday, February 27, at 10:15am, California Highway Patrol, Ventura County Fire Department and AMR Paramedics were dispatched to a reported head-on collision on WB SR-126 / Cavin Road, Fillmore. While firefighters were enroute to the location the call was
upgraded to a heavy rescue, with one of the vehicles involved in fire. Arriving firefighters found two vehicles with major damage; a silver Mercury and a white BMW. Firefighters began treating the patients at the scene; one person was pronounced deceased onsite, and two more additional patients were airlifted by copter and taken to Ventura County Medical Center (VCMC). Westbound and eastbound lanes were shut down until the scene was cleared; the crash is under investigation. According to the California Highway Patrol, “A 64-year-old man driving a 2000 Mercury was found trapped and his passenger, a 66-year-old woman, was unresponsive. Both are from Palmdale”, the CHP said. The woman died at the scene. Her name was not immediately released
pending notification of family. The man was transported to VCMC with major injuries. Both were wearing seatbelts. Initial CHP reports indicate the 64-year-old driver was headed eastbound on Highway 126 when, for unknown reasons, his vehicle drifted into oncoming westbound traffic. Officers noted weather was rainy, wet and cool and said the man was driving at an undetermined “high rate of speed” for the wet conditions. The Mercury hit a westbound 2013 BMW head-on. The CHP reported a 24-year-old Valencia woman driving the BMW was pulled from her vehicle, treated at the scene and also transported to the county medical center with major injuries. The crash closed the highway for about an hour as officers investigated, with traffic then alternating along eastbound lanes for a time. No arrests were made. It was not immediately known whether drugs or alcohol played a role, the CHP said in a release. Ventura County Fire responded and helped put out the vehicle fire. Any witnesses who haven’t already provided a statement are asked to call the CHP’s Moorpark-area office at 805-553-0800. Photo credit Gazette photographer Angel Esquivel-AE News.

Ventura County Sheriff's Department

On 02/08/2023, detectives with the Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau arrested (S1) Rotherie Foster for the robbery at La Unica Mini Market.

On 07/03/2022, at approximately 07:42 AM, deputies from the Fillmore Police Department responded to a robbery that occurred at La Unica Mini Market, located along the 500-block of Old Telegraph Road in the City of Fillmore. Deputies learned that two unknown male suspects entered the market and brandished their firearms at the store’s employees while demanding money. The suspects took an undisclosed amount of money and fled the store. Detectives from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau responded to assist with the investigation.

During the investigation, detectives identified one of the robbery suspects as (A)-Rotherie Foster. On 02/08/2023, detectives contacted Foster at the Todd Road Jail, where he was incarcerated for an unrelated case. Foster was arrested and supple mentally booked for PC 211-Robbery.

On 02/08/2023, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office filed one count of second-degree robbery against Foster. Foster remains in custody and his next court date is scheduled for 04/12/2023.

This is an on-going investigation. The Ventura County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau is seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the second suspect. If anyone has information that would be helpful in this case, please contact Detective Corey Stump at (805) 384-4745 or by email at Corey.Stump@Ventura.Org.

Nature of Incident: Robbery Arrest / Request for Public Assistance
Report Number: 22-87452
Location: 500-block of Old Telegraph Road
Date & Time: 07/03/2022 at 07:42 AM
Unit(s) Responsible: Fillmore Patrol, Fillmore Police Department Investigation Unit, Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau
(S)uspects, (V)ictims, (P)arty, (D)ecedent City of Residence Age
(S1) Rotherie Foster, 37, Camarillo
(S2) Unknown
Prepared by: Sergeant Francisco Jauregui
Approved by: Captain Victor Medina

Ventura County Crime Stoppers will pay up to $1,000 reward for information, which leads to the arrest and criminal complaint against the person(s) responsible for this crime. The caller may remain anonymous. The call is not recorded. Call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).

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On Friday, February 24, at 12:04pm, Ventura County Fire Dept., AMR Paramedics, and California Highway Patrol were dispatched to a two-vehicle accident on SR126 / Pyle Road, Fillmore. Arriving deputies found good Samaritans helping extricate one patient from a grey Durango SUV by breaking the windshield. Below, second vehicle involved was a black Honda Civic, with one female patient trapped. Firefighters used Jaws of Life to extract the unconscious driver from the Honda Civic, and crews began CPR. Firefighters pronounced the patient deceased on-scene. Westbound SR-126 was shut down until police cleared the scene before 3pm. All traffic was diverted onto Old Telegraph Road. According to the California Highway Patrol, “A 48-year-old woman from Valencia was killed in a two-vehicle crash on Highway 126 west of Fillmore, Friday afternoon. “A 30-year-old Santa Paula woman had been driving eastbound on the highway in a 2014 Dodge Durango SUV when the vehicle spun out of control,” said Sgt. Michael Untalan of the CHP’s Ventura-area office. The Durango hit an oncoming 2017 Honda Civic driven by the Valencia woman, whose name was not released at the time pending notification of relatives. Untalan said the impact was similar to a T-bone accident, with the Durango hitting the front driver’s side of the Civic. The Civic came to rest in traffic lanes while the Durango ended up on its side on an embankment. Both drivers were trapped in their vehicles after the crash, authorities said. The driver of the Civic was pronounced dead at the scene. The Durango driver was taken to Ventura County Medical Center with major injuries but was expected to survive. Neither drugs nor alcohol were a factor, patrol investigators found. On Monday afternoon, the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the driver who died as Delia Price. Anyone who witnessed the accident is asked to call the Ventura CHP at 805-
662-2640. Photo credit Gazette photographer Angel Esquivel-AE News.

At last night’s council meeting Fire Chief Keith Gurrola sought approval to purchase a thermal imaging camera, part of a FEMA Grant, to help firefighters detect heat behind walls before entering a building or room.

Presentation
7-A Ventura County Behavioral Health Director Scott Gilman addressed the Council regarding local homeless challenges and facilities available.

All items approved 5-0
8.A HOMELESSNESS
Fire Chief Gurrola and Police Chief Malagon provided an update on the people experiencing homelessness who are living in the Santa Clara River bottom and the recent court decisions which have limited the City’s abilities to address the homeless while allowing the City to support and protect concerned residents. In addition, Scott Gillman, Ventura County Behavioral Health Director, explained what services are available for the homeless.

8-B AMENDMENT NO. 3 TO THE SANTA CLARA RIVER WATERSHED BACTERIA MONITORING AND REPORTING PROGRAM MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT
REQUEST: That the City Council approve Amendment No. 3 to the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) among the cities of Fillmore, Oxnard, Santa Paula, and Ventura, the County of Ventura, and Ventura County Watershed Protection District to provide equal cost sharing for the Santa Clara River Bacteria Monitoring and Reporting Program to extend the program for an additional 24 months.

8-C REQUEST: Staff is requesting that the City Council accept two separate FEMA grants awarded to the regional fire services: one for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) and the second for FY 2021 AFG
APPROVE THE ACCEPTANCE OF 2 FEMA GRANTS, FOR PORTABLE RADIOS AND THERMAL IMAGING CAMERAS

8.D CONTINGENT DESIGN AND ENGINEERING SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH WILLDAN ENERGY SOLUTIONS FOR WATER METER EFFICIENCY AND INFRASTRUCTURE ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONSIDERATION OF A FUNDING PLAN Smart Meter Program Willdan Energy Solutions.
All items approved 5 -5-0.

ADJOURNMENT - MAYOR MARK AUSTIN ADJOURNS TO THE NEXT REGULARLY SCHEDULED MEETING AT 6:30 P.M. ON TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 2023, CITY HALL, 250 CENTRAL AVENUE, FILLMORE, CA 93015.

Scott Beylik, Program Chair, introduced speakers District Superintendent of Schools Christine Schieferle, FHS Principal Keith Derrick and FUSD Facilities and Bond Manager Chris Kline. Their presentation provided an overview of the upcoming construction of the new Fillmore High School athletic complex. Mrs. Schieferle talked about the input from community meetings, P.E. teachers, coaches, students, and visiting other high schools in preparation for what was needed in the new building. Mr. Derrick and Mr.
Kline each gave interesting descriptions from the presentation boards on location of the building, as well as the interior
and parking lot. The passing of Measure G is what has made this possible. It is a big project, and the anticipated completion date is Summer of 2025. Measure V facilities projects will continue with future upgrades to the FHS Library, Cafeteria, College & Career Center and new windows and air conditioning in the Arts Building. Additional projects across the district will include additional shade structures at school sites and air conditioning in the San Cayetano and Piru cafeterias.