Photo: Stock Image
Written By: Robert L. McCullough
February 3, 2023 – Ventura County, Ca. – The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Special Enforcement Unit continues to work overtime as they investigate illegal firearm activities throughout its jurisdiction. Comprised of eight detectives faced with the challenge of dealing with a proliferation of “ghost guns,” they continue to rack up arrests at an impressive rate.
Evidence of that came on the evening of January 26 th with a traffic stop conducted on a vehicle driven by 20-year-old El Rio resident Jonathan Ziegler. According to VCSD spokesman Sr. Deputy Matt Smith, Zeigler was on law enforcement radar pursuant to an ongoing investigation into local area “vandalism and street terrorism.”
When pulled over by the cops, Ziegler immediately “began to fight with detectives in an attempt to avoid arrest” and was joined in that effort by 20-year-old Angel Ziegler who was “armed with a loaded firearm.” Both young men were ultimately subdued, taken into custody, and transported to Ventura County Jail where they were booked on charges of resisting arrest, possession of cannabis, criminal conspiracy, possession of a concealed firearm, and possession of a firearm not properly registered.
In the same vehicle with the Zieglers were a 16-year-old juvenile, 21-year-old Andrew Flores, and 22-year-old Brayer Acevedo, all hailing from El Rio. For his part, Flores was arrested for conspiracy, street terrorism, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and transporting a passenger in possession of an illegally loaded firearm. Additioinally, Acevedo was found to be in possession of a “concealed dirk or dagger” while in possession of a firearm in violation of his felony parole terms.
All four adults were booked into Ventura County Jail with bail set at amounts ranging from $50,000 to $125,000; the male juvenile was booked into Ventura County Juvenile Facility where he is on a no-bail hold, facing a charge of possession of a loaded “ghost gun.”
