Ventura County – Perhaps Alfonso Gomez, a 27-year old resident of Arleta in the San Fernando Valley, has seen one too many installments of the Fast & The Furious blockbuster movie series. That might be a reasonable explanation for his behavior in the early morning of September 14, 2014, when a rural Simi Valley resident spotted him standing on her property, having just exited a nearby barn.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Dan Hawes, the startled woman vocalized her concern and then observed her neighbor’s pickup truck careening past, “crashing into her automatic gates,” then smashing into a cinderblock wall, and then fleeing the scene. Responding deputies entered the pickup truck into the California stolen vehicle database, and took complete reports of the events, including the burglary of the barn, the felony vandalism, and the vehicle theft.
The stolen truck was located just hours later with items stolen from the barn inside. Pursuant to the immediate investigation performed by the City of Thousand Oaks Police Special Enforcement Unit, the perpetrator was promptly identified as Gomez.
Over the following eight months, Gomez eluded arrest, but on May 12, 2015, he was observed by detectives of the Thousand Oaks PD Special Enforcement Unit and the Moorpark Police special Enforcement Detail as he walked down an Arleta business district thoroughfare. He was immediately contacted and taken into custody without incident. Transported to Ventura County Jail for booking on charges of burglary, unlawful taking of a vehicle, and vandalism, Gomez had his bail set at $200,000.
Photo: Courtesy http://stuntsunlimited.com
