Photo: fleeing suspects
March 5, 2022 – Ventura County, Ca.
Perhaps it’s the recent increase in international airfares that motivated 33-year-old Lorenzo Galvez Valdivieso and 18-year-old Enrico Francesco Martinez to turn to a life of crime in order to buy plane tickets so they might return to their homes thousands of miles away in Chile.
Or maybe they simply came to Ventura County to begin a life of crime with no intention of ever returning to their country of origin. Following their March 2 nd arrests after leading cops from multiple jurisdictions on a long and dangerous chase following a series of burglaries, their intentions are no longer the issue, as the facts may speak clearly for themselves.
It all began in the early evening of March 2 nd when, according to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Greg Gibson, deputies attached to the Thousand Oaks Special Enforcement Unit (SEU) learned that “a crew of South American Theft Group members” were in the area actively conducting burglaries. SEU notified patrol units in Camarillo to be on the lookout for these miscreants. As Camarillo deputies were responding to this information, a 911 Emergency call was received reporting “unknown suspects were inside the house.”
Deputies rolled up to the reporting address and quickly determined that a burglary had just taken place. As that information was being recorded, another Camarillo patrol unit spotted “a vehicle leaving the area of the burglary.” A traffic stop was attempted to no avail, as the suspect vehicle took off at a high rate of speed.
The ensuing pursuit took deputies into Los Angeles County, where “an LAPD airship” began aerial surveillance of the suspect vehicle. With cops above them and on their tail, the suspects were observed ejecting “a duffle bag” from their vehicle. The duffle bag was later determined to contain an assortment of burglary tools.
The vehicular pursuit intensified, punctuated by a collision of the suspect vehicle “with another uninvolved vehicle” in the City of Van Nuys. At that point, Valdivieso was apprehended, but Martinez managed to flee on foot. He evaded the cops for a short time, but “an exhaustive search of the area” led to his capture.
Valdivieso and Martinez were transported to Ventura County Jail, where they were booked on charges of conspiracy, residential burglary, resisting arrest, obstructing or delaying a police officer, and possession of fraudulent documents. Bail was set at $250,000 for each of them.
Photo: Courtesy LAPD Air Patrol
