Photo: Armando Anthony Lopez
June 25, 2021 – Ventura County, Ca.
If there were to be a community college or trade school course offering entitled “Crime Planning 101”, it’s doubtful that 32-year-old Camarillo resident Armando Anthony Lopez would be standing in line to enroll.
It’s not that Lopez isn’t an ambitious, hard-working thief; it’s just that, according to the report filed by Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Detective Mitchell Peterson, Lopez appears to come from the wing-it-and-let’s-see-what-happens school of criminal thought.
Evidence of Lopez’ impromptu instincts came on the morning of June 22nd when he sauntered into a Camarillo tire shop and walked out with a car battery without bothering to remit payment. Instead, he “fled eastbound on foot” and promptly began to install the purloined battery “in his vehicle parked nearby.” At that point, personnel at the tire store called 911 to
report the theft.
As VCSD rolled up to the scene, Lopez “stole a nearby golf cart” and promptly sped off. The cops immediately established a secure perimeter, and within minutes, “numerous Sheriff’s Office resources” went into action. Deputies from the Camarillo Special Enforcement Detail, the Camarillo Investigations Bureau, the VCSD Gang Unit, the VCSD Narcotics Unit, the VCSD K9 Unit, and the VCSD Air Unit’s Copter 7 all swarmed to the scene.
With so many taxpayer dollars at work, it didn’t take long for deputies to find Lopez and take him into custody. Follow-up investigation indicated that Lopez was in possession of booty from several residential burglaries, multiple garage door openers…and a golf cart. He was transported to Ventura County Jail and booked on charges of burglary, vehicle theft, shoplifting, and delaying a police officer, with his bail set at $160,000.
Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking
