Man Pleads Guilty to Theft, Arson at Dealership

A Thousand Oaks man pleaded guilty Tuesday in Ventura County Superior Court to charges of arson and embezzlement in a June, 1991, fire that caused $75,000 in heat and smoke damage at a Ventura car dealership where he was the finance manager.

Jose Cabanas, 45, pleaded guilty to one charge each of grand theft by embezzlement and arson of a structure, admitting he set fire to the showroom at Paradise Chevrolet to cover evidence that he had stolen customers’ cash payments, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles Roberts.

Roberts said that the day before the fire, Cabanas’ employers had confronted him with allegations that he had pocketed more than $20,000 in customers’ cash deposits.

The crime closely matched the circumstances of a fire at Jim Best Chevrolet, where Cabanas had worked two years earlier, according to a motion by Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Simon that sought to have the Best case admitted as evidence in the Paradise fire.

In that incident in June, 1990, Cabanas’ employers at Jim Best Chevrolet in Canoga Park confronted him with accusations that customers’ cash deposits he handled were missing, Simon’s motion said.

That night, someone poured accelerant on filing cabinets and business records in an effort to destroy them, the motion said. No charges were filed in that fire.

Cabanas’ guilty plea short-circuited any ruling on Simon’s evidentiary motion, which would have been heard had the case gone to trial Monday as scheduled, Roberts said.

Cabanas and his attorney could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

He is free on $50,000 bail pending a sentencing hearing scheduled for Nov. 19. He faces a maximum sentence of six years and eight months in prison.