Rooftop Burglar Brought Down to Earth

by F. Scott Faulkner , July 10, 2012

July 7 – Ventura County. Just after Oxnard’s annual public fireworks Fourth of July extravaganza, in the early hours of July 5^th, a burglar alarm call brought Oxnard Police Department units responding to Channel Islands Dairy where officers spotted a white Dodge Caravan driving away from the premises.

Omar Barrera

Officers stopped the van and interrogated its driver, Omar Uribe Barrera, 36. According to Oxnard PD Public Information Officer Monica Munoz, “Barrera was observed to be sweating profusely,” and could not convince the officers that he had a valid reason to be in the commercial area at approximately 1:00 a.m.

Additional units responded to the scene with information that the store had been burglarized with entry gained via a hole in the roof. While Barrera was detained at the scene, surveillance video was accessed which made it clear that he had indeed broken into the store and accessed the cash registers.

Barrera was booked into Ventura County Jail on felony burglary charges, and was later identified in additional local burglary incident videos as the perpetrator of the identical m.o. at Fierro’s Meat Market on June 9^th, and at Cindy’s Minimart on March 28^th, 2012. All three retail operations are in close proximity to one another.