Photo: Stock Image
The modus operandi of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department’s new Organized Retail Theft Task Force continues to have remarkable success in its mission to thwart shoplifters and burglars targeting area retailers.
Evidence of that was apparent once again on the morning of June 19th when, according to VCSD spokesman Sgt. Baltazar Tapia, “a blitz operation” involving the Ventura County Organized Retail Theft Task Force and Port Hueneme Police Department detectives resulted in the arrests of two Oxnard residents. Lorenzo Alvarez, 30, and Christopher Diaz, 33, were caught in separate shoplifting incidents at local area CVS drug stores and Ralphs supermarkets involving significant amounts of purloined groceries and housewares.
Both Alvarez and Diaz were in the act of their thievery when they were suddenly contacted by detectives and taken into custody. Both were transported to Ventura County Jail, where they were booked on misdemeanor shoplifting charges and outstanding warrants, including prior theft cases. They remain in custody at the Sheriff’s Pre-Trial Detention Facility in Ventura.
The “blitz operations” are focused on retail theft, with undercover detectives and loss prevention officers working together to identify and arrest suspects. The Task Force was formed “to combat organized retail theft, vehicle and parts theft, and cargo theft, which cost businesses and communities an estimated $10 million annually.”
