Countywide : Impostor Lawmen Rob 2 Motorists

Two men, thought by police to be the same pair who robbed two motorists and their passengers by flashing a police officer’s badge last year, struck again in Somis and Carpinteria this week, a sheriff’s investigator said Thursday.

Florento Dias, 62, told sheriff’s deputies Tuesday that he was driving along California 118 about 3:20 p.m. when two men in a pickup truck pulled alongside his car and motioned him to pull over after flashing what looked like a gold police officer’s badge.

When he stopped, the driver of the truck asked Dias for his car keys and wallet, which contained about $300, and told him to wait in his car. The two men then sped off, leaving Dias in his car, authorities said.

In a similar incident on the same day, Carlos Chavez, 25, told police he was driving north on the Ventura Freeway, near Bailard Avenue in Carpinteria about 3 p.m. when two men drove up alongside his car in a black full-sized pickup and flashed what looked like a sheriff’s badge.

Chavez, who works for a farmers’ market, told police he was carrying a cash box with the market’s sales receipts of more than $700 in cash on the front passenger seat of the car. He said he pulled over. The suspects then took his wallet, car keys and the cash box before driving off, police said.

Sgt. Michael Barnes of the Sheriff’s Department said two similar incidents took place in October last year: one in Thousand Oaks and another in Camarillo. The descriptions of the suspects--two white males about 30 to 35 years old--were the same, he said.

In those cases, the victims were Latino farm workers, Barnes said. Between them they were robbed of about $1,500 Barnes said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more unreported cases,” Barnes said. “Many of these migrant farm workers are afraid to come forward for fear that we may turn them in to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.”