Photo: meth and cash
August 9, 2021 – Ventura County, Ca.
Whoever said “if you’re going to go, go big” must have caught the attention of 66-year-old Bruce Caplan and 56-year-old Benjamin Southworth, a pair of Thousand Oaks residents who were the subject of a month-long narcotics investigation conducted by the Thousand Oaks Directed Enforcement Unit.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Det. Greg Chisari, Caplan and Southworth caught the attention of law enforcement in July 2021 as they were allegedly involved themselves “in the sales of illegal narcotics” throughout the Thousand Oaks community.
It was early in the evening of August 5th when things went from “allegedly” to “whoa” pursuant to detectives making up-close-and-personal contact with the two men. At that time, detectives discovered substantial evidence of the pair’s activities that included nearly 1,000 grams of methamphetamine, 12 grams of cocaine, assorted scales and other indicia of active drug sales, and “over $3500 in U.S. currency.”
Both Southworth and Caplan were summarily taken into custody and transported to Ventura County Jail, where they were booked on charges of possession for sales of a controlled substance. Caplan’s bail was set at $60,000 while Southworth was “released on his own recognizance with a future court date.”
