Photo: Evidence collected during arrest | Ventura County Sheriff’s Office
As if there isn’t enough commercial signage polluting the visual urban landscape, there are apparently those who simply can’t resist the compulsion to broadcast their messages of territorial dominion to the world at large like dogs urinating on every vertical surface to warn away other dogs by scrawling their incomprehensible “graffiti art” on both public and private property.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Detective Jose Torres, Thousand Oaks resident Bryan Pinedo Martinez may suffer from just those canine marking instincts.
It was on the morning of April 12th when Martinez—under investigation for the preceding two weeks by the Thousand Oaks Directed Enforcement Unit and Special Enforcement Unit as a suspected gang member in possession of illegal firearms and graffiti paraphernalia—responded to a knock on the door of his residence and found himself face-to-face with a search warrant and more cops than he dared to resist.
The ensuing search of Martinez’s residence led to the discover of “controlled substances, ammunition, large capacity magazines, gang-related indicia, and graffiti paraphernalia. Much of that evidence tied Martinez to vandalism and damage inflicted earlier in the month upon a Thousand Oaks business establishment, with damage “in excess of $950.” That’s the threshold for felony vandalism charges, and Martinez soon found himself in handcuffs.
Martinez was transported to Ventura County Jail, where he was booked on multiple charges including felony vandalism, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of a large capacity magazine. He remains in custody with his bail set at $30,000.
