OXNARD : Disabled Candidate Recovers Stolen Car
A stolen car belonging to a disabled Oxnard City Council candidate was recovered abandoned in the handicapped parking stall of a south Oxnard factory that trains Mercedes-Benz mechanics, authorities said Wednesday.
Juan Soria’s specially equipped 1981 Ford LTD was stolen Saturday from a busy street in front of a downtown eatery.
Soria, a 60-year-old double amputee, reclaimed the car Wednesday from a private towing company after police found the vehicle while on patrol late Tuesday night in the 1600 block of Fiske Place. The car was in good shape, Soria said, and still had its hand controls, worth about $500, that allow him to drive.
“I’m happy to have it back,” Soria said Wednesday. “It doesn’t look like it has been wrecked and it was running when I went to pick it up.”
Soria, one of 13 candidates running for a council seat in the March 2 special election, filed a police report only to discover that the car was one of 15 stolen in Oxnard last Saturday.
Police spokesman David Keith said all of the car’s doors were locked, its ignition had not been tampered with and it did not appear that the car was broken into.
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