Photo: Marcelo Roque
Ventura County – Citizens enjoying the advantages of even a commonplace level of reasoning ability might call into question any alleged benefits of belonging to a criminal street gang within the reach of Ventura County Law enforcement when they consider the case of 30-year-old Thousand Oaks resident Marcelo Roque.
Roque, “a known and documented gang member residing in Thousand Oaks,” according to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Greg Gibson, became the subject of an investigation following the February 11 report of an incident occurring on the city streets that afternoon.
Deputies arriving on the scene pursuant to a 911 Emergency call, learned that “an unknown male suspect” had approached two male victims and inquired as to their relationship with a local area gang. The verbal response of the victims was apparently unsatisfactory, as the suspect then “threatened to have other gang members assault the victims,” leaving them in “sustained fear” for their personal safety.
At that point, deputies turned the affair over to the Thousand Oaks Police Department’s Special Enforcement Unit for further investigation, which soon lead to the identification of Roque as the likely suspect.
When researching Roque, detectives further determined that he was on active parole with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, having previously been sentenced to prison for assault with a deadly weapon and special allegations of street terrorism.
During the course of their investigation, detectives established probable cause for the arrest of Roque on charges of criminal threats and special allegations of street terrorism.
Roque—clearly a less than stellar graduate of the state’s protocols for rehabilitation while incarcerated—was contacted on March 13th, taken into custody, and transported to Ventura County Jail where he was booked on the aforementioned charges, to be held on a no-bail parole hold.
Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking
