VIOLENT CRIME—The getaway vehicle after it finally came to a halt in the Calabasas Deer Springs neighborhood. Photos courtesy VCSO
Five teens from Los Angeles were arrested last week after reportedly robbing two customers at The Oaks mall and then leading deputies on a vehicle pursuit through Thousand Oaks and into Calabasas. All five were caught.
Just before 4 p.m. June 27, a 79-year old Camarillo man and a 77-year-old Westlake Village woman called 911 to report that they had been punched and then robbed while inside the Macy’s Men’s and Home store, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said.
The male victim said the high-end watch he was wearing was snatched from his wrist, and the female victim said her purse was taken. Both were treated for minor injuries at Los Robles Medical Center, police said.
Deputies located the alleged thieves in a green sedan near the southbound 101 Freeway and Lynn Road. The sheriff’s office said when deputies attempted to conduct a traffic stop the driver failed to yield, initiating the pursuit.
Deputies said they immediately recovered a handgun, found to be stolen, that had been thrown out of the vehicle during the chase.
The handgun that the suspects threw out of the car.
The pursuit from Thousand Oaks to Calabasas ended when the vehicle turned into a dead-end street at Raven Court and Cottonwood Grove Trail in the Deer Springs neighborhood of Calabasas, the sheriff said. Worried residents were told to keep doors locked, one Calabasas official told The Acorn.
One person remained at the scene and was taken into custody, while the other four suspects fled on foot.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Air Unit, California Highway Patrol and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department searched the area, and the four outstanding suspects were caught.
Deputies said one of the suspects was in possession of the stolen watch.
Three juveniles—a 13-year-old girl and two 17-year-old boys—whose identities were not released due to their age, were arrested on suspicion of robbery, conspiracy to commit a crime and elder abuse as well as various firearm charges, records show. They were taken to the Ventura County Juvenile Center.
The two adult suspects—Corey Thomas and Jonathan Requejo, both 18—were booked at the Ventura County Main Jail on suspicion of robbery, conspiracy to commit a crime, elder abuse, evading police, carrying a concealed weapon, carrying a loaded firearm and unlawful transfer of a firearm, records indicate.
Thomas and Requejo were being held in lieu of $100,000, as of July 1.