Smash and grab leads to local Ventura musician’s arrest

VENTURA — Two men were apprehended last week after reportedly smashing the windshields of multiple vehicles and stealing prescription medication from one of them at a downtown parking garage.

At approximately 4:15 a.m. on May 21, police were alerted to a burglary and multiple car vandalisms in the main parking structure located in downtown Ventura.

According to the Ventura Police Department, a witness observed Raymond Austin Weaver, a 24-year-old local musician, along with Oxnard resident Miguel Angel Hernandez, also 24, break the rear window of an sports utility vehicle parked on the third level of the parking structure.

According to Ventura police Corporal Tom Higgins, the two suspects allegedly removed prescription medication from the burglarized vehicle before proceeding to jump on multiple vehicles located in the structure.

The witness observed the suspects break the windshields of three vehicles with what may have been a crowbar. As the suspects fled the scene in a green SUV, the witness was able to obtain and provide local authorities with the license plate number of the getaway vehicle.

Weaver and Hernandez were apprehended approximately 10 minutes later in midtown Ventura on Thompson Boulevard at Seaward Avenue, just a few blocks away from Billy O’s Bar and Grill, where Weaver had performed just hours earlier.

Both men were arrested on four counts of felony vandalism, burglary and conspiracy. While Weaver was handcuffed and seated in the police patrol vehicle, he kicked out the rear window, adding an additional count of felony vandalism to the charges against him. The Ventura County Sheriffs Department indicated this week that charges may be dropped against Hernandez while bail has been set at $20,000 for Weaver, who was scheduled to be formally arraigned Tuesday.