THOUSAND OAKS : Teen Calls 911 While Confronting Robber

The convenience of a cordless phone allowed Josh Henderson to describe to a 911 dispatcher the man who burglarized his Thousand Oaks home--at the very moment he was confronting the suspect in his front yard.

Henderson, 17, said his family was out when he returned home around noon to find kitchen cupboards ransacked, his mother’s purse emptied on the floor and a window screen busted open.

After grabbing a portable phone and heading to the garage for a baseball bat, Henderson said he heard someone outside and found the suspect loading Henderson’s family’s belongings into what turned out to be a stolen Ford Taurus.

“I walked up to the guy, and I noticed he had one of my father’s watches hanging out of his pocket, and while I was heading toward him, I was on the line with 911 describing the guy,” said Henderson, who had left the baseball bat in the garage. “I saw my mother’s jewelry box in the front seat, inside one of our pillowcases, and a lot of our stuff packed in bags by the front door.

“I said, ‘Wait, you’re robbing my house. That’s my stuff in your front seat, and that’s my stuff in your pocket,” said Henderson, who then noticed an open penknife in the man’s car. “He asked me if it had my name on it, I said no, and he said, ‘Then it’s not yours.’ He tucked the stuff in his pockets all the way in, and he drove off.’ ”

The suspect left behind several bags throughout the house but got away with an estimated $15,000 in jewelry, Henderson said.

Ventura County sheriff’s deputies, however, located the car and the suspect Henderson described. During the five-minute chase along residential streets and freeways, the fleeing suspect rear-ended a car driven by Shannon L. Smith, 20, of Newbury Park, fled on foot upon being cornered and was found 10 minutes later hiding at a construction site.

Donald Edward McCutcheon, 34, of Ventura was arrested on suspicion of burglary and car theft and booked into Ventura County Jail. Smith suffered minor injuries in the crash. The jewelry and other stolen goods were recovered with the car, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said.