Detectives busy with burglary, vandal busts
by Lenny Roberts

Eight people were either cited or arrested recently by Ojai-based detectives in separate property and identity theft crimes that occurred from Thousand Oaks to Santa Barbara County.
Brannon and Maria Marks, of Ventura, were arrested at Lake Casitas after investigators received a tip of their possible whereabouts. They are accused of a series of vehicle burglaries where credit cards and personal checks were taken and then used to purchase an undisclosed amount of goods, according to Sheriff's Detective Scott Baugher.
"Working with detectives at the Thousand Oaks Police Department and the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Carpinteria substation, we were able to identify the suspects - a husband and wife who lived on the Avenue in Ventura," Baugher said.
Senior Deputy Rick Jones added that "the interesting thing is that this is just the tip of the iceberg. I arrested her for another theft at a swim wear store in Ventura, and there are probably a lot of other cases."
When they were arrested, Brannon Marks was wearing a work shirt that he allegedly purchased using a bogus check. The Dickey shirt and hardware items, totaling $90, came from Meiners Oaks Ace Hardware, and detectives added that they are investigating at least one more local forgery that may be attributed to the husband and wife team.
"All the different (law enforcement) agencies are sitting until one gets a break in the case, and (because of these arrests), Santa Barbara is now clearing several cases," Jones explained.
Both suspects were arrested on suspicion of forgery and possession of stolen property. Brannon Marks was also arrested on an outstanding warrant for violation of probation stemming from a previous forgery conviction, and Maria Marks had a warrant for violating the terms of her drug-related probation.
Saturday, dispatchers put out a call to patrol deputies for vandalism to a mailbox at Monica Ros School on McNell Road. A neighbor heard the commotion and said that he watched as some kids were beating the mailbox with a baseball bat, Baugher said.
"They take off and the witness follows them in his car and gets the license plate number. Deputies responded and set u a surveillance perimeter in the city and within an hour, stopped the suspect vehicle and questioned the occupants."
A positive identification of two male juveniles was made, Baugher added.
At the same time, patrol deputies received calls that other mailboxes on Thacher Road were being vandalized, and that juveniles were breaking windows of vehicles on Lion Street, Romano Drive, Mercer Avenue and Alviria Drive.
All in all, there were four Nordhoff High School students cited and released pending a court appearance to parental custody on felony vandalism charges. The names of the 14-, 15-, 16-, and 17-year-old boys were not released because of their ages.
"Actually, if it weren't for the witness coming out, getting the license number and calling the police, we wouldn't have been able to identify any of the suspects," Baugher said.
On Monday, deputies received a call of a burglary in the 100 block of North Olive Street in Oak View. When they arrived, the victims, a couple in their 80s, told them that their house had been ransacked, and several items, including a computer and stereo, had been taken. The deputies also learned that gang-related graffiti had been spray-painted on the walls, and that a screen on a guest house on the property was open. The guest house, too, had been ransacked with property taken.
Baugher said that as deputies canvassed the area, they quickly came up with suspect information based on a vehicle description. In an interview with a neighbor, Baugher determined that three possible suspects had left in a maroon van from the Ventura area.
"(Detective) Joe (Evans) and I followed up on some leads and started searching for the suspects on the Avenue," Baugher said. "Then, a maroon van pulls out in front of us."
A personalized license plate frame further indicated that this was the suspect vehicle, and when the plate was run, confirming the suspect's identity, the vehicle was stopped by a black-and-white patrol unit.
The driver, 32-year-old Abel Castro, of Ventura, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, but denied any involvement in the alleged burglaries. Nonetheless, he was booked into County Jail on suspicion of burglary.
A second suspect, 16-year-old juvenile, allegedly admitted his involvement in the crime, but was cited and released to parental custody pending a court appearance. A third suspect remains at-large.
All of the property allegedly stolen on Olive Street was recovered and returned to the owners, Baugher said.

© 2002 The Ojai Valley News

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