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By Anonymous — Friday, January 22nd, 2010
Location: Chandler, Arizona During the weekend of January 15 – 17, 2010, Camarillo Police Department Explorer Post #2932, participated in a national law enforcement tactical Explorer competition hosted by the Chandler Police in Chandler, Arizona, coming home with a first place trophy, second, and third place trophy. During this competition 11 of our Explorers, ages 14 to 19 years old, competed against 62 other Explorer posts, totaling over 700 Explorers from across the nation. Camarillo Explorers competed in seven of the fifteen group events and took home a first place trophy in “Incident Command Systems.” We also competed in several individual events with two of our explorers, Eric Schneider and Andrew Behan, taking home the second and third place trophies, beating over 200 other explorers in a three mile run. The “Incident Command System” scenario was an event where explorers were judged on their ability to plan, assess, communicate, and implement a successful operation during a mock critical incident. In preparing for these tactical events our Explorers had the opportunity to train with actual Special Weapons and Tactics Team (S.W.A.T.) members from the Ventura County Sheriffs Department. The Explorers that competed in the competition are: Brent Underwood, Tucker Ford, Steven Bosh, Armand Castanon, Andrew Behan, Eric Schneider, Keith Donaldson, Osvaldo Marquez, Alex Malkiewicz, Ryan Hoff and Raul Muniz. The Explorers were accompanied and supervised by Advisors Deputy Joe Martinez, Sheriff Service Technician Lisa James and volunteer Jim Clegg. Law Enforcement Explorers are young adults, ages fourteen through twenty-one that have a desire to learn the dynamics of law enforcement. Our explorers develop and learn valuable skills such as communication, teamwork, and organization. The Explorer program is a non-profit organization associated with the Boy Scouts of America and is supported by the City of Camarillo and private donations. If you are interested in joining our Camarillo Explorer Post please contact Todd Eskridge at 388-5129. |
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By Anonymous — Friday, January 22nd, 2010
 Ventura County Sheriff's Department Location: Wells Fargo Bank 1760 E. Avenida De Los Arboles, Thousand Oaks, Ca. An unidentified man robbed a Thousand Oaks branch of Wells Fargo Bank Thursday afternoon. The suspect approached one of the tellers with a note demanding money, and left quietly after the teller handed him cash. The suspect did not display a weapon or make any threats. He wore a dark-colored suit with a green necktie, a brown plaid fedora, dark sunglasses, and black gloves. Witnesses described him as a white male in his 30’s, approximately six feet tall, weighing 180-190 pounds. He had short brown hair and had a goatee and mustache. 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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By Anonymous — Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
Ventura County Sheriff's Department Location: Potrero John Trail, Los Padres National Forest, Ventura County (V)ictim City of Residence Age On 1-16-10, Jonathan Fulthorpe and Dylan Beckett went hiking and camping on the Potrero John Trail. They had planned to camp until Tuesday, 1-19-10, at which time they would hike out and be picked up by Dylan’s grandfather, John Beckett. Today, 1-18-10, John Beckett decided that the camping trip should be cut short due to the incoming weather conditions. He drove to the trailhead and hiked up the trail to the camp. Once there, he told Dylan and Jonathan that staying the extra day was a bad idea and they should pack up and leave right away. Dylan and Jonathan agreed and broke down camp immediately. On the hike out of the canyon, the trail crossed the river CONTINUED » |
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By Anonymous — Monday, January 18th, 2010
Ventura County Sheriff's Department Location: Redwood Middle School, 233 W. Gainsborough Rd., Thousand Oaks On the evening of January 16, 2010, deputies from the Thousand Oaks Police Station responded to Redwood Middle School in regards to suspicious activity taking place on the school grounds after hours. Upon their arrival, deputies heard what sounded like spray paint being used. The deputies were able to get close enough to the (4) suspects to witness one of them spray painting a wall at the school. When the deputies ordered the suspects to stop what they were doing and to remain in place, the suspects began to run toward an open area. One of the suspects was captured and arrested at the scene. The others were able to escape. Upon further examination of the scene, deputies discovered a large volume of graffiti on the school building and a row of lockers. |
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By Anonymous — Monday, January 18th, 2010
Ventura County Sheriff's Department Location: County of Ventura The National Weather Service has predicted that several large storms will bring significant amounts of rainfall to the county next week. As the storms approach, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Aviation / Search and Rescue Unit would like to remind all residents of the dangers that can come with this type of weather. As the rain makes its way to the rivers and streams, please stay away from the moving water and be aware that the water can be an attractive nuisance to children. It only takes a small amount of water to wash away vehicles and cause drivers to lose control. As a preventive measure, do not attempt to cross moving water either on foot or in a vehicle. Remember that even normally shallow water crossings can become hazardous during heavy rains, as flows increase during these times. It is especially important to report any suspicious or dangerous activities in or around waterways over the following weeks. Prevention and early detection is key to avoiding possible tragedies, and in an actual emergency time is of the essence. |
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By Anonymous — Friday, January 15th, 2010
Ventura County Sheriff's Department Location: Camarillo Police Department On February 16, 2010, the Camarillo Police Department will begin its twenty-second citizen’s academy program. It’s a twelve-week course designed to give citizens an overview of the police department’s function and operational procedures. There will be presentations by a superior court judge, K-9 officer, S.W.A.T. team members, bomb squad, narcotic officers, and many others. Participants will also have the opportunity to meet Camarillo’s station commander and get a comprehensive tour of the police station. There will be field trips to the Pre-Trial Detention Facility (main jail) and juvenile hall, Sheriff’s dispatch and the crime lab, the Sheriff’s Training Academy, and heliport. Participants will also go on a ride-along with a patrol deputy. Anyone interested in attending the Citizen’s Academy can get an application at the Camarillo Police Station. Potential candidates must be at least 18 years of age, live or work in the Camarillo area, have no felony convictions, and no misdemeanor convictions within one year of applying. Classes will meet on Tuesday evenings beginning February 16, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM for twelve weeks and will be held in the community room at the Camarillo Police Station. For additional information contact Camarillo’s Crime Prevention Officer @ 388-5130. |
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By Anonymous — Friday, January 15th, 2010
Ventura County Sheriff's Department Location: Nyeland Acres – Unincorporated area of Oxnard (S)uspects, (V)ictims, (W)itnesses Address Age On the listed date and time, the above listed suspects gained entry to the victim’s home by verbally identifying themselves as police officers. One of the suspects displayed an unknown type badge to the victim. The suspects accused the victim of being involved in criminal activity. The suspects then searched the victim’s house while asking where he kept his money and jewelry. The suspects then removed credit cards and an undisclosed amount of cash from the victim’s house and left the scene. The suspects knew personal information about the victim and his family. Investigators are urging anyone with information regarding this crime to contact the Sheriff’s Department using the numbers listed below or through Ventura County Crime Stoppers. |
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By Anonymous — Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
Ventura County Sheriff's Department Location: Thousand Oaks, CA The Thousand Oaks Police Department C.O.P.P.S. Unit conducted an A.B.C. sting, using under age adults to purchase alcoholic beverages. Decoys attempted to make purchases of alcoholic beverages at 29 locations in the City of Thousand Oaks. All of the liquor store locations checked in Thousand Oaks diligently checked identifications of minors that were under the age of 21 and refused to sell them an alcoholic beverage. In an ongoing effort to prevent access to alcoholic beverages by teens, the Thousand Oaks Police Department C.O.P.P.S. Unit conducts periodic sting operations to ensure retailers are doing their part in the community to help reduce the risk of under age drinking. |
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By Anonymous — Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
Ventura County Sheriff's Department Location: Thousand Oaks Police Station Date & Time: Wednesday January 20, 2010 thru Wednesday March 24, 2010 Unit Responsible: Thousand Oaks Crime Prevention Bureau The city of Thousand Oaks and the Thousand Oaks Police Department have a mutual interest with the community in ensuring that children reach their scholastic and personal growth potential. In today’s society, children have several obstacles, bad influences, and distractions. Raising children is not easy. Children sometimes engage in harmful behaviors fueled by negative influences including alcohol, gangs, and peer pressure. In furtherance of our commitment to the community, the Thousand Oaks Police Department will be offering a parenting class on Wednesdays for ten weeks starting on January 20th. Parents with difficult, defiant, or problematic children are encouraged to attend. Our goal is to give parents guidance and to develop more successful children. We are excited to offer these sessions and truly wish to support parents and offer strategies to deal with difficult children. The course content consists of ways to address drugs, sex, gangs, poor grades, running away and violence. Additional content includes guidance in gaining children’s compliance of house rules, how to never argue with your child again, and how to use other parents for support. Additional information can be reviewed at www.parentproject.com. This course is for Thousand Oaks residents only and is subject to enrollment. Senior Deputies Dennis Sliva and Jim DeSoto of the Thousand Oaks Police Department will be the facilitators. Interested parents are asked to call either Senior Deputy Sliva or DeSoto for further information. |
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By Anonymous — Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
Ventura County Sheriff's Department Location: Point Mugu State Park, Ventura County, Ca (V)ictim: Jay Lewitt City of residence: Agoura Hills, Ca. Age: 48 yrs On 1-11-10, Jay Lewitt and his son, Evan Lewitt, went hiking in Point Mugu State Park on the Chumash Trail. They hiked to the top of Mugu Peak and then proceeded back down to their car. As they hiked down, they could not find the trail. As the sun set, they decided to hike straight toward their car, which they could see from the top of the mountain. Soon afterward, the sunset and the two hikers were using the light from their cell phones to light the terrain in front of them. Eventually, they came to the edge of a cliff and could go no farther. They determined they could not hike up the way the came due to the darkness and called 911. The Ventura County Sheriff's Department activated its East Valley Search and Rescue team as well as its rescue helicopter. The helicopter was staffed with a Sheriff’s pilot, Deputy Crew Chief and Fire Fighter Crew Chief. Using night vision goggles, Air Squad 9 quickly located the stranded hikers. They determined the quickest and safest way to rescue them was using the helicopter. Air Squad 9 was able to hover near a rock pinnacle and off-load a crew chief. The crew chief hiked down to the stranded hikers and escorted them back up to the pinnacle. Air Squad 9 flew back in and hovered in the same position. The victims were loaded into the copter while it was in a hover. They were then transported to the trailhead where they were released. Neither subject was injured. |
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By Anonymous — Friday, January 8th, 2010
Ventura County Sheriff's Department Location: 2400 Pickwick Drive, Camarillo Arrestees: Resident of: Age: The Camarillo Police Department’s Special Enforcement Bureau, Detective Bureau and Sheriff’s Warrant Detail made six arrests this past week after concluding a two-week investigation into a group of suspects counterfeiting United States currency, counterfeiting credit cards and possession of narcotics. On 12/31/2009, the Special Enforcement Bureau arrested Bernie Denk, CONTINUED » |
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By Anonymous — Friday, January 8th, 2010
Ventura County Sheriff's Department Location: City of Moorpark Suspect City of residence Age On 12/16/2009, a narcotics- related search warrant was served at Jeremy Hernandez’ residence in the 4700 block of Moorpark Avenue, in Moorpark. Hernandez was in possession of Oxycontin pills and marijuana, both of which were packaged for the purpose of sales. He was subsequently arrested for the violation and booked at the Ventura Main Jail. While Jermey Hernandez was in custody, his mother, Antoinette Rojas, his brother, James Hernandez, and his friend, Matthew Bennett, attempted to collect on past drug debts owed to Jeremy Hernandez. Some of these collection attempts were made with threats of bodily harm to family members of drug customers. On 1/4/2010, additional search warrants were served at Antoinette Rojas’ residence in the 4700 block of Moorpark Avenue and at Matthew Bennett’s residence in the 15100 block of Varsity St, in the City of Moorpark. James Hernandez, Antoinette Rojas and Matthew Bennett were arrested for conspiracy to distribute Jeremy Hernandez’s narcotics and for attempting to collect on unpaid drug debts. All three remain in custody in the Ventura County Jail and have been formally arraigned for the listed charges. |
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By Anonymous — Friday, January 8th, 2010
Ventura County Sheriff's Department RB#: 09-16874 Suspect Address Age Turk Rangel Simi Valley 19 On 7-11-09 at about 12:15 a.m., Moorpark patrol deputies were summoned to the area of Spring Road and Los Angeles Avenue in the city of Moorpark to a report of a stabbing that had just occurred. Once deputies arrived at the location, they discovered that the victim had a single stab wound to his left side, just above his waist. The victim was transported to Los Robles Hospital for medical treatment. The victim survived the attack. During the investigation, deputies learned that while riding his bicycle in the area, the victim was “jumped” by two subjects and was ultimately stabbed. The victim ran across the street and requested help from a gas station attendant, who called the sheriff’s department. The suspects fled the scene in a vehicle. According to the victim, the two suspects appeared to be gang members. Investigators later received information from two witnesses indicating that, Turk Rangel, a Varrio Simi Valley “VSV” gang member, had committed the stabbing. After being interviewed by major crimes investigators, Turk Rangel was booked for assault with a deadly weapon into the Pre-Trial Detention Facility, in lieu of $100,000 bail. |
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By Anonymous — Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
Ventura County Sheriff's Department 12/23/09-12/29/09 |
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By Anonymous — Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
Ventura County Sheriff's Department Location: City of Ojai and the unincorporated areas in the Ojai Valley On Saturday, December 30, 2009, Sheriff’s deputies and investigators from Alcohol Beverage Control, conducted an underage buy operation in the City of Ojai and the unincorporated areas of the Ojai Valley. Deputies employed an underage decoy, in an undercover capacity, to attempt to purchase alcoholic beverages from businesses. Deputies targeted various locations and were pleased to find that none of the businesses sold alcoholic beverages to the underage operative. The operation was a joint effort with county and state offices to monitor businesses and their compliance with state laws. Captain Dunn, the chief of police for the City of Ojai, deemed the operation to be successful with the businesses employing proper practices for checking identification and refusing to sell alcohol to underage customers. Last year during the decoy operation, seven area businesses were cited for selling alcohol to the underage operative. Additional operations are expected to be completed to ensure compliance in an effort to reduce underage drinking violations. |
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By Anonymous — Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
 At 9:24 p.m. firefighters were dispatched to a bamboo and brush fire near Fillmore's waste water treatment plant. The large pile of bamboo had been removed from the river bottom. Enlarge Photo  3 engines were used to extinguish the fire. 1 unit from Santa Paula was diverted from the fire east of the Fillmore fish hatchery to assist on the fire. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Enlarge Photo |
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By Anonymous — Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
12/16/09-12/22/09 |
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By Anonymous — Monday, December 28th, 2009
Location: Ojai / Ojai Valley/ Ventura (S)uspects Charge City of residence Age Detectives from the Ojai sub-station and the Sheriff’s Gang Unit concluded a two-month investigation into a vehicle burglary ring with the arrest of five suspects. Investigators believe the group is responsible for at least 30 vehicle burglaries stretching from West Ventura to the City of Ojai. In October and November, the City of Ojai began experiencing a rash of vehicle burglaries within the city limits. Detectives found that a credit card taken in one of the burglaries was used at an ATM in West Ventura. Detectives obtained a photograph of the individual who used the stolen credit card and on November 30th they identified him as Lee Peyton. Peyton was currently on parole for robbery. Gang investigators set up a surveillance of Peyton and were able to identify several residences and individuals that he associated with. Investigators also developed other leads that identified Ricardo Gutierrez, Kristen Baker, and Reyes Estrada as being involved in the burglaries. In December, investigators set up a surveillance of Reyes Estrada and Kristen Baker. On 12-12-2009, investigators watched Estrada and Baker purchase gasoline at a station in Ventura. Investigators later obtained records of that transaction and found they used a stolen credit card from an unreported vehicle burglary in the City of Ventura. Investigators were able to contact the victim in that case who told investigators her purse was stolen from a friend’s car in a downtown Ventura parking lot. On 12-15-2009, investigators served search warrants at five locations in the Ojai Valley and the City of Oxnard. During a search of Benjamin Kennedy’s residence located in the 400 block of El Roblar, investigators recovered 4 purses that were later identified as being stolen from vehicle burglaries. Investigators also arrested Lee Peyton for violating his parole terms. On 12-23-2009, investigators arrested Benjamin Kennedy for possession of stolen property. Later that night, investigators located Kristen Baker and Reyes Estrada in a home in the 200 block of West Flint, Ventura. During a subsequent search, investigators recovered stolen credit cards and a driver’s license that were taken from a burglary that occurred in Ventura. Both Estrada and Baker were arrested for burglary and booked into the Ventura County Jail. On 12-24-2009, investigators had obtained enough evidence to arrest Ricardo Gutierrez for his participation in the burglaries. Although investigators were only able to recover a small amount of the property taken in the various burglaries, they did collect enough evidence to link the suspects to at least 30 vehicle burglaries. Investigators believe that a majority of the stolen property was sold to various individuals. Investigators are continuing their effort to recover more stolen property. Investigators are planning to arrest Peyton for numerous counts of vehicle burglary as soon as he is finished serving his time in state prison for violation of his parole terms. Most of the reported vehicle burglaries involve purses or other valuables that were left in plain sight. Investigators believe that the suspects targeted areas that had a high likelihood of purses being left in cars. These included popular hiking spots, parking areas around nightclubs, and other areas where women were likely to leave purses in a car. |
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By Anonymous — Thursday, December 24th, 2009
Ventura County Sheriff's Department Location: US Bank 541 S. Reino Road, Newbury Park Suspect Address Age An alert bank employee saw the suspicious man in the parking lot and noticed something familiar about him. He looked just like the man who robbed the US Bank just two weeks earlier. While the employee watched, the man donned a wig and a fake mustache. Those actions sealed his fate. The employee called the police department, and the man’s preparations to rob the bank for the second time in a month were foiled. Quentin Brearley was wearing the wig and mustache when deputies arrived and detained him. He also had a note to demand money and had replaced his license plates with plates he had stolen from another car. Brearley was prepared to carry out another bank robbery but is now in custody, thanks to the decisive actions by an observant citizen. After being interviewed by major crimes investigators and FBI agents, Brearley was booked for robbery stemming from the incident at the US Bank on Dec. 5, 2009, and for attempted robbery stemming from his behavior on Dec. 22, 2009. |
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By Anonymous — Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
 A van leaving Margaret’s Cocina on Highway 126 was broadsided by an eastbound car, Tuesday at approximately 2PM. Enlarge Photo  The driver of the car was injured and transported to the hospital. There was severe damage to the car. Enlarge Photo |