COUNTYWIDE : Man Arrested Over Attempted Burglary

A Camarillo man was being held in Ventura County Jail on Tuesday after police caught him and a companion trying to break into a storage area behind a Thousand Oaks shopping center, authorities said.

Robert Rounds, 27, of Camarillo and Michael Koons, 28, of Northridge were arrested Sunday evening by detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department’s burglary division after the pair were seen prying open a door behind a Hillcrest Drive shopping center, a Ventura County sheriff’s spokesman said.

Koons had been followed to the shopping center because both men were under surveillance in connection with several commercial robberies in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, Detective Stan Weber said.

Search warrants were served at both men’s homes after the arrest, Weber said.

Officers searching Rounds’ Camarillo home seized rare coins believed to have been stolen from a local shop, Ventura County Cablevision converter boxes and several pieces of old silverware thought to have been taken in a commercial robbery, Weber said.

Los Angeles Police Detective Tom Donnelly declined to comment on what property was found in Koons’ Northridge home but said it was linked to a commercial burglary in the Los Angeles area.

Both men were charged with attempted burglary and booked into Ventura County Jail, Weber said.

Koons was released Monday after posting $1,000 bail. Rounds is still being held on $5,492 bail.