Photo: Items discovered during search | Courtesy of VCSD Special Enforcement Unit
February 15, 2023 – Ventura County, Ca.
The private life of a convicted felon, once released on probation with probation search terms may not be ideal…particularly if that “private life” involves messing around with guns and using drugs. But “ideal” is not society’s objective when it comes to controlling the criminal instincts of those who have already proven themselves unable to do just that: control itself is the objective.
In pursuit of that societal control, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Enforcement Unit (SEU) spends a great deal of time and effort keeping tabs on those individuals and those behaviors requiring certain restraints, including the use of drugs and the possession of firearms and ammunition. According to VCSD spokesman Senior Deputy Matt Smith, those efforts lead detectives to identify Ventura resident Kenneth Wilson and Ventura resident Justin Mattley as having been released from custody “on active probation with narcotics-related search terms” and possibly in need of further behavioral supervision.
With that objective, late on the morning of February 10th, detectives made contact with both men and identified vehicles owned by each. Detectives conducted a search of Mattley’s person and his vehicle and found “a small amount of methamphetamine and fentanyl” In his possession. A contemporaneous search of Wilson’s vehicle revealed multiple weapons, ammunition, and two ounces of methamphetamine.
Both men were taken into custody at the scene and transported to Ventura County Jail where Wilson was charged with possession of a loaded firearm by a convicted felon, possession of an unlicensed firearm, possession of a manufactured firearm not properly registered, possession of an assault weapon, possession of brass knuckles, felon in possession of body armor, possession for sales of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance while armed with a firearm, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance. He remains in custody with his bail set at $100,000.
For his part, Mattley was cited for possession of a controlled substance and probation violation, and was subsequently released on his own recognizance.
by Robert L. McCullough
