Choppers, Dogs Catch Car Thieves
Fillmore – At approximately 7:00 a.m. on November 18th, a call to Ventura County Sheriff’s Fillmore Police Station was made reporting that a car had been apparently stolen from a downtown street location.
Mora
According to Ventura County Sheriff spokesman Sgt. Dan Cook, deputies responded to the scene and promptly broadcasted vehicle information to area patrol units. “The vehicle was subsequently located, unoccupied” in an unincorporated area east of the city, Cook reported to the media. Supporting the notion that criminals frequently return to the scene of a crime, while deputies were examining the stolen vehicle and processing any evidence therein, “a second stolen vehicle was observed driving toward the original stolen vehicle,” Cook reported.
Just as soon as the passengers in the second car spotted deputies surrounding the original vehicle, a passenger alighted and fled on foot through a nearby orchard while the remaining occupants drove away from the scene at full throttle. Ventura County Sheriffs immediately gave pursuit, but by the time they came upon the second car, the occupants had abandoned it and run off on foot into the Santa Clara riverbed.
Ventura County Sheriff’s Air Unit as well as a pair of K9 Units were called into play and the ensuing search located one suspect on nearby Highway 126, while another two suspects were tracked down and taken into custody by the K9 dogs who promptly “subdued” their prey. Ramiro Mendez, 19, Alejandro Silva, 28, and Rudy Mora, 21, were all arrested on the scene on suspicion of grand theft, and booked into Ventura County Jail after a stop at Santa Paula Hospital where they received treatment for injuries consistent with an uncooperative K9 apprehension.
Ouch.
Photos: Courtesy Facebook, Ventura County Sheriff’s Dept.
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Ventura County Star: Three Men Arrested on Stolen Vehicle Charges
