Thousand Oaks – According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Jason Robarts, residential areas along the Los Angeles and Ventura County lines have recently been the target of a spate of daylight burglaries with a classic modus operandi: suspects knocking on the front door of a home to see if anyone responds. If anyone answers the door, the suspects have some lame reason for their presence on the front porch, including such old standards as “looking for a lost puppy” or “having the wrong address”. Conversely, when no one answers the door, the suspects then move to the rear of the home and gain forcible entry as prelude to burglarizing the premises.
This tried-and-true m.o. came to light on the afternoon of December 31st, when, following numerous reports of such burglaries in the area, Thousand Oaks Police Department 911 dispatch received a call reporting “suspicious male and female subjects looking into the window of a resident” who confronted the pair—and didn’t buy their explanation that “they were looking for their lost dog,” Robarts reported. When the resident then observed the pair making contact with another individual in a nearby vehicle, the homeowner made the 911 call which brought uniformed officers promptly to the scene.
Upon arrival at the address, officers spotted the vehicle—bearing unique dealer plates reported by previous burglary victims—and conducted a traffic stop. The concomitant conversation between the three vehicle occupants and the officers indicated that there was, in fact, no “lost dog”, and that these individuals had recently “committed at least one residential burglary and were in the process of attempting another when confronted by the homeowner.” There was additional physical evidence located inside the vehicle to support the cops’ suspicions, whereupon Chloe Freer, 24, Robert Crockett, 36, and Rayshaun Flowers, 28, all hailing from Los Angeles, were arrested on the scene and subsequently transported to Ventura County Jail where they were booked on charges of residential burglary and attempted residential burglary, with their bail set at $500,000 each.
Photos: courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking
Read more:
CBSLA: 3 suspects accused of burglarizing home
VCSTAR: 3 arrested in residential burglary
