Three Burglaries Yield Two Arrests
Ventura County – The Thousand Oaks Police Department found itself with a plenty to do earlier this week when their 911 Emergency operators received a pre-dawn call for help on February 18th that reported “a burglary in progress,” according to Ventura County Sheriff spokesman Sgt. Alan Hartkop.
The call for help reported a homeowner awakened at 4:50 a.m. by the sounds of an intruder who had been confronted by “a male suspect wearing all black clothing” standing inside the homeowner’s residence. According to Hartkop’s report to the media, deputies arrived on scene with all due alacrity, only to find no intruder still in the house.
They did, however, spot someone out for a very early morning bike ride in the neighborhood…who just happened to be dressed in “all black clothing.” When the cyclist was stopped, questioned, and identified as Arturo Fuentes, 20, a resident of Oxnard with no credible explanation as to why he was miles away from home at this hour of the day. Given the nature of his responses—apparently inadequate to convince the deputies of his athletic prowess—Fuentes, a resident of Oxnard, was arrested on the scene on suspicion of residential burglary.
Once the sun peeked over the horizon in Thousand Oaks, however, 911 Emergency received another two residential burglary reports which involved stolen vehicles, both occurring within close proximity of one another. Shortly after the Thousand Oaks Police Department broadcast descriptions of the stolen vehicles to neighboring agencies, an officer of the Oxnard Police Department observed one of the vehicles traveling through his jurisdiction and performed a “routine” traffic stop. A brief investigation on the scene identified the driver as Guillermo Garcia, 22, an Oxnard resident. Found in the vehicle he was driving was property stolen in the second and third burglaries just hours before. Garcia was taken into custody and transported to Ventura County Jail where both he and Fuentes were booked on suspicion of residential burglary.
Read More:
ABC7: 2 Men Arrested for Residential Burglaries in Thousand Oaks
Moorpark Patch: 2 Burglary Suspects Arrested
