OXNARD : Man Arrested in Theft of Police Car

The open door and idling engine of an Oxnard police car proved too strong a temptation for an Oxnard man, who police say briefly stole the squad car in south Oxnard on Thursday, only to be arrested later at a boisterous party.

Galen Koen, 20, was arrested on suspicion of grand theft for the joy ride, during which he attempted to pry loose a shotgun from the car’s dashboard, said Oxnard Police Sgt. John Crombach.

According to a police account, the incident began at 12:50 a.m. when Officer Mindy Morter pulled into a store parking lot in the 2300 block of East Channel Islands Boulevard to talk with a motorist.

As Morter, a three-year Oxnard police officer, spoke to the driver, she heard the door to her patrol car slam shut, and turned to see a man backing the car quickly out of the lot, Crombach said.

Morter alerted other officers by means of a hand-held radio, and police soon discovered the stolen car in a nearby residential neighborhood. Police sealed off the area and searched it with the aid of a canine unit, but did not locate the suspect, he said.

When the police car was recovered, officers found its dashboard had been vandalized in an apparent effort to remove the shotgun.

Witnesses at the scene of the theft helped identify Koen as the suspect, and police broadcast a request for officers to be on the lookout for him, Crombach said. But it wasn’t until 4:45 a.m., when police received a complaint about a loud party in the same south Oxnard area where the car was stolen, that police caught up with the suspect, he said. Koen was arrested without incident. Police Lt. Joe Munoz said Morter was following standard procedure when she left the engine running.

Koen is being held in lieu of $5,000 bail on the felony charge of grand theft of an automobile. He was also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday afternoon.