April 18, 2022 – Ventura County, Ca.
If a book titled “How to Pull Off the Perfect Crime” were ever published, one might assume that Chapter One might be called “Don’t lock the keys to the getaway car inside the car.”
Sadly, no such book is currently in print, which may explain why, in the early evening of April 15 th , three South American transients—26-year-old Hugo Camilo Perez Martinez, 25-year-old Esperanza Rafaela Brevis Venega, and their 16-year-old juvenile cohort—aroused the suspicions of a witness at the Thousand Oaks Mall who observed them smashing the window of their parked vehicle.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Det. Justin Doering, that witness alerted the mall’s security team and VCSD Thousand Oaks Patrol deputies. As law enforcement rolled up to the scene, all three suspects “fled on foot,” but the cops nabbed the 16-year-old male before he could hop into the car driven by Martinez.
A vehicle pursuit quickly ensued, but came to an abrupt halt when Martinez “collided into a residential security fence” and was quickly taken into custody. While that action was taking place, deputies located Venegas on foot trying to flee the area of the shopping mall.
The subsequent investigation led to the discovery of “a large amount of stolen clothing” in the vehicle driven by Martinez and to the determination that the three had “conspired to enter Macy’s Department Store for the purpose of committing a theft,” but when they tried to make their getaway from the mall parking lot they discovered “they had locked their keys inside” which led Martinez to noisily break the car window.
All three were arrested and transported to Ventura County Jail, where they were booked on multiple charges, including organized retail theft, possession of stolen property, evading an officer with willful disregard for public safety, hit and run, and resisting a peace officer.
Martinez and Venegas, subsequently determined to be Chilean Nationals and part of a South American Theft Group, had their bail set at $250,000 and $50,000 respectively.
