Photo: evidence from Nunez
January 25, 2022 – Ventura County, Ca.
If you drive a car in California, odds are that there’s a catalytic converter in your life (without one, your car won’t pass the state’s smog certification requirements). That catalytic converter hanging off the bottom of your vehicle’s engine is not only a vital component, but it’s packed with valuable metals that can be recycled at considerable profit by those with the temerity to crawl under parked cars in the dead of night to pilfer it.
That’s apparently the nefarious business that Bell Gardens resident Ramiro Juaquin Garcia Nunez and Los Angeles resident Anthony Gutierrez were in the wee hours of January 25 th.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Greg Gibson, late that afternoon detectives attached to the Thousand Oaks Police Department’s Special Enforcement Unit (SEU) were notified by the Orange County Sheriff’s Directed Enforcement Unit that “a vehicle associated with catalytic converter thefts” had traveled into Thousand Oaks and was suspected as actively engaging in ongoing thievery.
VCSD SEU detectives hit the streets and later that evening spotted the suspect vehicle and determined that the occupants of the vehicle had just stolen a catalytic converter from a car parked in a Thousand Oaks residential neighborhood.
VCSD patrol deputies, working on behalf of the SEU team, attempted to pull the suspect vehicle over in a “traffic stop,” but soon found themselves in a high-speed pursuit on the southbound U.S. 101 freeway. The cops were forced to suspend the chase out of concern for public safety, but soon thereafter they found the suspect vehicle ditched and disabled on an offramp, with the occupants nowhere to be seen.
At that point both VCSD and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department teams “conducted an extensive search” and ultimately found Nunez and Gutierrez hiding nearby. Both were taken into custody, transported to Ventura County Jail, and booked on charges of grand theft, conspiracy, evading an officer with willful disregard, resisting arrest, and delay of a peace officer. Nunuz’ bail was set at $50,000 while Gutierrez’ bail was set at $25,000.
Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Sheriff’s Department
