Photo: Nora Marie Cowle
April 30, 2021 – Ventura County, Ca.
It was the day after New Year’s, January 2, 2021, when a female checker at a Moorpark, Ca. supermarket discovered her employee locker—located in a secured-and-restricted area closed to public access—had been jimmied open and broken into. She promptly called the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Moorpark substation to report the theft of her wallet and car keys.
A quick check of the store parking lot and she discovered her car had been stolen. According to VCSD spokesman Det. Sgt. Kevin Lynch, responding Investigations Bureau detectives performed a visual review of the store security camera video recordings and “determined the thefts were committed by a male and female suspect who appeared to be
working in concert with one another.”
The ensuing investigation, “using a variety of investigative techniques” over the following four months brought 26-year-old El Monte resident Nora Marie Cowle to the cops’ attention. By late April, detectives determined that the best place to make contact with Cowle was at the San Bernardino County Jail where she was being held on unrelated auto theft charges.
Detectives traveled to the West Valley Detention Center in the city of Rancho Cucamonga on April 28 th , when Cowles was due to be released from custody. Before she could see the light of day, VCSD detectives placed her under arrest and then transported her to Ventura County Jail, where she was booked on charges of burglary, auto theft, and conspiracy to commit criminal acts, with her bail set at $50,000.
Her cohort in the January 2 nd episode remains at large, but according to Lynch the cops are “expected to make an additional arrest over the next few weeks.”
Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking
