Stolen vehicle pursuit with Port Hueneme police ends in car fire
An Oxnard youth allegedly led police on a pursuit in a stolen vehicle on March 30 that ultimately ended with the car catching fire.
Officers with the Port Hueneme Police Department arrived at the area of Ventura and Pleasant Valley roads around 2:30 a.m. after the license plate reader system alerted police on an Infiniti sedan that had been reported stolen, according to a department news release.
While attempting to stop the Infiniti, the vehicle fled northbound on Ventura Road into the city of Oxnard, police officials said.
During the pursuit, a tire caught fire and the driver pulled the vehicle into the Grocery Outlet parking lot on Ventura and Devonshire Drive, officials said.
The driver, who was the sole occupant of the Infiniti, fled on foot, but was ultimately caught nearby and arrested.
The tire fire spread to the vehicle’s undercarriage and continued to burn, police officials said. The Oxnard Fire Department responded to extinguish the blaze.
The youth was arrested on suspicion of vehicle theft and found to have key fobs and a vehicle reprogramming device, officials said.
The police department has requested that anyone with information about the case call Detective Sgt. Mike Hamrick at 805-986-6541.
Oxnard man arrested for alleged vehicle, tire thefts
An Oxnard man was arrested for allegedly stealing a pickup and attempting to steal tires from a home in Port Hueneme on March 27.
Officers with the Port Hueneme Police Department arrived at the 300 block of Clara Street around 11:09 a.m. after receiving a report of a suspicious-looking man loading tires into a truck, according to a department news release.
Police in the area found the suspect’s truck driving away and stopped the vehicle, police officials said.
Investigators found that a witness had seen the suspect casing a residence with tires in the side yard, police said. The suspect walked away but came back a few minutes later in a pickup and loaded the tires.
Police also discovered that the man had initially walked away from the home to steal the pickup he was driving from a nearby work site, police officials said. The man then drove the stolen truck to the house to steal the tires.
The man, a 32-year-old from Oxnard, was arrested on suspicion of felonies for unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle, two counts of petty theft with two priors, and a misdemeanor for possession of stolen property, jail records show. He was also on parole for prior weapons violations.
The man was booked into Ventura County jail with bail set at $30,000, jail records show. He is scheduled to appear in Ventura County Superior Court on April 1.
Ernesto Centeno Araujo covers breaking news for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at ecentenoaraujo@vcstar.com, 805-437-0224 or@ecentenoaraujo on Instagram and X.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Port Hueneme police make two arrests in vehicle thefts
Reporting by Ernesto Centeno Araujo, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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