THOUSAND OAKS : Man Pleads Guilty in Drive-By Shooting

A Thousand Oaks gang member who was convicted earlier this month of murder in the drive-by shooting of a 20-year-old mother has pleaded guilty to an assault charge in another drive-by shooting in which no one was injured.

Scott Kastan, 19, convicted of murder in the May 31 slaying of Jennifer Jordan of Thousand Oaks, entered the guilty plea Friday in Ventura County Superior Court, Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter Brown said.

Prosecutors originally alleged that Kastan and seven other members of the Houston Hoods were involved in the April 27 shooting. In that incident, shots were fired outside a house on Greenwich Drive, but no one was hurt.

A Ventura County jury acquitted four of the defendants in December, but deadlocked on conspiracy charges filed against Kastan; Adolfo Alvarez, 18; Wade Caddin, 19; and Joseph Cruz, 23. Judge Allan L. Steele declared a mistrial in the case.

Steele then dismissed the charges against all but Kastan, saying the evidence against them was insufficient to retry them.

Brown refiled the charges against Alvarez, Caddin and Cruz. But Municipal Judge Barry Klopfer dismissed the case against the three, ruling that Steele had dismissed the charges.

The district attorney’s office appealed the dismissal to a three-member appeals panel of Superior Court judges, who are considering arguments from both sides this week, Brown said.