Photo: Jabari Evans
Ventura County – Logic would dictate that once a suspect is arrested for any number of crimes and is held in custody, it might seem unlikely he’d be charged with still even more crimes.
But that’s exactly what happened in a case that had its origins in the pre-dawn hours of January 24th, when a Thousand Oaks Police Department patrol deputy spotted a pair of cars cruising through city streets at twice the speed limit and proceeded to conduct a traffic stop on the vehicles.
Billy Morales
One of the cars—later determined to have been driven by 24-year-old Los Angeles resident Jabari Evans—pulled over to the curb. But the second car, driven by 24-year-old Los Angeles resident Billy Morales, took off at a high rate of speed in an obvious attempt to evade arrest. At that point, the chase was on, at that point leaving Evans to his own devices.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Det. Jason Karol, Morales’ escape attempt was quite sincere, leading deputies on a chase that “reached speeds of approximately 100 and 125 miles per hour before exiting the freeway in Camarillo.”
It was at that point that Morales found himself surrounded by responding deputies, and he eventually surrendered. At that point, Morales was transported to Ventura County Jail for booking on charges of vehicle theft, evading, vehicle burglary, and vehicle tampering.
The ensuing investigation revealed, however, that the vehicle driven by Morales had been stolen from a Newbury Park neighborhood where “a total of five thefts from vehicles had occurred,” which led to the subsequent identification of Evans “as the driver of the second vehicle seen prior to the pursuit” of Morales.
Just two days later, on January 26th, Evans was contacted while driving yet another stolen car, the contents of which included “property which had been stolen out of Los Angeles” in other reported vehicle burglaries.
All the evidence eventually gathered indicated that Morales and Evans had been involved in twelve separate crimes involving a total of four stolen cars “and a large quantity of stolen property” which was eventually returned to the assorted victims.
With the plethora of additional evidence in hand, on February 13th the Ventura County District Attorney filed additional charges on Morales while still in custody, including vehicle theft, grand theft and “four counts of petty theft.”
Photos: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking
