OXNARD : County OKs Auction of 2 Oxnard Houses

Ventura County supervisors on Tuesday authorized the auction of two Oxnard houses following Superior Court rulings that one was purchased with funds from pimping and pandering and the other was a place where drugs were used and sold.

Title to the homes has been transferred by the courts to Ventura County, making the Board of Supervisors the sole entity authorized to order the property sales under state law, said Raymond Ruiz, manager of the Real Estate Services Division for the county.

A well-kept four-bedroom house at 2180 E. Ridge Loop will go up for auction with a minimum bid of $237,000. The former owner, Henry Hardy Jr., was convicted of pimping and pandering and is in state prison, said Maeve Fox, deputy district attorney in the asset forfeiture unit.

Bids for a deteriorated three-bedroom house at 2031 W. Birch St., which Fox said served as a crack house, will begin at $87,000. The former owner, Robert Carter, was convicted of drug sales and conspiracy to sell drugs, Fox said.

The auction will begin with the opening of sealed bids at 10 a.m. June 9. Oral bids will follow.

Ruiz said the county has seized and sold six houses worth more than $700,000 since the real property assets seizure program began in 1990.

After mortgages, liens and expenses are paid, proceeds from the sales of the properties will go to Ventura County agencies that participated in the arrests and prosecution.