Photo: Jonathan Lucero, Michelle Lopez and Prissilla Estrada (l-r)
December 1, 2021 – Ventura County, Ca.
It was an hour after midnight on November 30 th when Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Dispatch picked up a 911 call reporting a carjacking auto theft which had just taken place on a neighborhoodl street in the City of Thousand Oaks.
According to VCSD spokesman Sgt. Rob Yoos, deputies attached to East County Patrol Services promptly responded to a La Granada Drive residence where they found the male victim who had reported the crime. A brief interview indicated that he had been sitting in his car in front of his home when “two male suspects, both armed with weapons” came up to the driver side of his car and “ordered him out of the vehicle.”
Clearly preferring his personal safety over the possession of his car, the victim reportedly complied, exited the vehicle, and watched the two suspects climb in and drive away. Because VCSD patrol units were “in the area on another call,” when they were alerted to the reported carjacking it didn’t take them long to spot the stolen car cruising through the neighborhood.
Red lights and the whoop-whoop of a siren brought the vehicle to a halt, whereupon contact with the driver, 19-year-old Los Angeles resident Jonathan Lucero, was made. Following predictably blinding law enforcement flashlight beams in his face, Lucero was summarily extracted from the hot car and taken into custody.
Minutes later, “a second involved suspect vehicle” was spotted nearby. A quick traffic stop ensued and contact was made with 21-year-old Las Vegas resident Michelle Lopez, 20-year-old Los Angeles resident Prissilla Estrada, and an unnamed juvenile. Inside that vehicle, deputies found “property belonging to the victim,” indicating the trio’s complicity in the vehicle theft.
The three adult suspects were transported to Ventura County Jail, where they were booked on charges of Carjacking and Conspiracy, with their bail set at $250,000 each. The male juvenile found himself in Juvenile Hall booked on the same charges and on an outstanding arrest warrant.
Photos: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking
