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Authorities Say Intruders Shot and Robbed Executive of Cash, Cocaine : Crime: Founder of a Camarillo firm faces drug inquiry after he is released from a hospital.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

The founder of a Camarillo electronics company was in intensive care Saturday after being shot and robbed of cash and cocaine at his Santa Rosa Valley home, sheriff’s investigators said.

Dick Weisse, 48, former chairman of Power-One Corp., was in fair condition with a shoulder wound at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Deputies said they were summoned to Weisse’s home on East Pradera Road about 1 a.m. Friday. Weisse (pronounced WY-zee ) and his 18-year-old girlfriend reported that two men in their early 20s--one armed with a handgun and the other wielding a wrench--entered the house through an unlocked sliding-glass door, deputies said.

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The man with the wrench robbed the woman--identified as Roni Hollingshead of Simi Valley--of her wallet and a small quantity of cocaine, Sheriff’s Lt. Kelli McIlvain said. The other man shot Weisse and then robbed him of $300 and an unknown amount of cocaine, McIlvain said.

The victims told deputies they did not know the robbers and knew of no motive for the shooting, McIlvain said.

Hollingshead was arrested on suspicion of possessing a controlled substance and of being under the influence of drugs, McIlvain said, adding that Weisse also faces investigation for possible drug violations after he is released from the hospital.

A graduate of Camarillo High School, Weisse and his former wife, Sharyl Owen, founded Power-One in their garage in 1973, according to a family member who asked not to be identified. It now employs about 750 workers and has annual sales of $49 million, according to Standard & Poors Register.

The privately held company has plants in Puerto Rico and Mexico in addition to its facility on Calle Plano in southeast Camarillo. Power-One manufactures equipment that transforms alternating electrical current to direct current--in computers.

Since 1985, Weisse has not played an active role in Power-One and has been selling off his stake in the firm, a company official said. In recent years, the official said, Weisse has been investing in several other businesses, including American Rocket Co., a private rocket-launching enterprise based in Camarillo.

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Weisse could not be reached for comment Saturday.

The family member said Weisse has “been involved in a subculture for many years” and that relatives have worried about his cocaine use.

‘When people get involved with that stuff, they usually end up either getting the hint or getting a toe tag,” the relative said, referring to the way bodies are tagged at a morgue. “The hint usually isn’t a bullet in the shoulder. This is more dramatic.”

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