Andrew Jenson
VENTURA COUNTY — The advent of law enforcement’s adoption of DNA science and the expertise with which the cops are wielding this technology doesn’t bode well for those committing crimes where their physical presence at a crime scene is part and parcel of a particular modus operandi.
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is molecular hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms, present in every cell of our bodies and a unique marker among all living creatures. Its detection often turns a mere suspect into a defendant.
Case in point is the August 7th report filed by Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Det. Michael Purnell detailing the July 25th arrest of 42-year-old Ventura resident Andrew David Jensen for a crime allegedly committed by him in October, 2016.
It was on October 7, 2016, when VCSD deputies attached to the Thousand Oaks Police Department began investigating a reported burglary at a local area home.
At that time, detectives “processed the crime scene for evidence,” including an examination of “items that potentially contained the suspect’s DNA.” It was the examination of those items that led forensic examiners of the VCSD Forensic Services Bureau to the determination of a forensic profile.
That profile was then submitted to review by the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) which ultimately matched the evidence to the profile of Jensen.
With that evidence in hand, Jensen was contacted at his residence, taken into custody, and transported to Ventura County Jail were he was booked on a charge of residential burglary, with his bail set at $70,000.
Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking
