Out For a Ride… With a Gun

SANTA PAULA — An hour after darkness fell upon this small rural community in eastern Ventura County.

Pleasant Street, approximate location of initial incident

An alert Santa Paula Police Department Officer, Josh Rothermel, spotted someone with whom he was familiar riding down an area boulevard enjoying the balmy summer evening while astride a motorcycle.  As it happened, Officer Rothermel was aware that the rider did not possess a valid California Operator’s License, and in fact had been the subject of a recent suspension of his driving privileges.

According to Santa Paula Police Department spokesman Sgt. Cody Madison, Rothermel “attempted to stop the subject for the license violation” but was thwarted in doing so as the rider simply gunned the motorcycle and rode off into the night.

Undaunted, Rothermel pursued the rider he knew to be 36-year-old Raul Moreno, resident of Santa Paula, and eventually forced him from the bike.  But Moreno, feeling he was up to the task of evading law enforcement, sprinted away from Rothermel and attempted to flee through a neighborhood backyard.

But backyards can be problematic because of fences, clotheslines, pesky homeowners, barking dogs, and the like, and Moreno was quickly subdued and taken into custody.  It was then that Rothermel became aware of Moreno’s motive in fleeing, as he was found to be in possession of a loaded handgun, a modified ammunition magazine, and a homemade silencer — all violations of multiple state and federal firearms laws.

Moreno was arrested and booked into Ventura County Jail with bail set at $50,000 on charges of possession of a loaded concealed firearm, possession of a modified ammunition magazine, possession of a silencer, and — another blemish on his DMV record — reckless driving.

Read more:

VC Star: Police arrest Santa Paula man on weapons charges

VC Tribune: A Man with a Loaded Handgun and a Homemade Silencer Was Arrested