Two men were arrested June 1 for allegedly following a man from a Camarillo bank to his next destination and breaking into his vehicle to steal his cash.
Deputies with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office arrived to the parking lot of a gym in the 300 block of Arneill Road in Camarillo around 10:40 a.m. after an 80-year-old man called to report that his vehicle had been broken into, said sheriff’s Capt. Mike McConville.
Sheriff’s investigators found that the man had likely been a victim of bank jugging, McConville said. Bank jugging involves targeting a victim who withdraws money from a bank or ATM with the intent to steal the cash afterward, McConville said.
An initial investigation into the burglary found that the man was likely followed from a bank in the 2400 block of Ponderosa Drive after he was seen withdrawing money, the sheriff’s captain said. The man then went to exercise at a nearby gym and returned to find a vehicle window broken and his cash stolen.
Surveillance footage from the area captured a vehicle parked near the victim’s that drove from the scene, McConville said. Detectives were able to get license plate information from the vehicle and tracked it to Simi Valley shortly after the burglary.
Officers with the Simi Valley Police Department found the vehicle parked near another bank around 11 a.m. and contacted the two men inside, the sheriff’s captain said.
The men, a 32-year-old Georgia man and a 33-year-old Texas man, were arrested on suspicion of felonies for vehicle burglary, conspiracy and forgery of registration as well as a misdemeanor for possession of burglary tools, jail records show.
They were booked into Ventura County jail with bail set at $150,000 each, records show. They are both scheduled to appear in Ventura County Superior Court on June 3.
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: 2 men arrested in theft of victim followed from Camarillo bank
Reporting by Ernesto Centeno Araujo, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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