Ventura County – The Ventura-Ojai Bike Trail is one of the most bucolic and scenic bike routes in Southern California, but on May 18th it was a crime scene as two cyclists traveling in the Crooked Palm Road area rode past a brush fire in the hills above just as they observed two teenagers running across the bike path.
The cyclists promptly called 911 Emergency to report the fire and the two teens who were apparently fleeing on foot from the area of the active fire. Responding within five minutes, deputies quickly located the two teens, one of whom is under the age of 18, while the other was identified as Samuel Patterson, a 19-year-old resident of the city of Ventura.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Koppenjan, “the suspects were detained approximately one mile south of the reported location of the fire.” While the teens were being questioned and other potential witnesses were being interviewed, Ventura County and Ventura City Fire Department assets arrived on the scene, including “3 engine companies, 2 battalion chiefs, and 1 hand crew.”
Pursuant to witness reports, the verbal admissions by both Patterson and his young co-conspirator, and evidence discovered at the scene by the Ventura County Arson Task Force, both Patterson and the male juvenile were arrested for Felony Arson. While the juvenile was booked into Ventura County Juvenile Hall in Oxnard, Patterson was transported to Ventura County Jail where he is held pending a bail hearing.
Photo: Courtesy www.facebook.com
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ABC7: 2 teens arrested for arson
