2 Teen-Agers Held in Rash of Car Break-Ins
Sheriff’s deputies in Thousand Oaks arrested two Los Angeles teen-agers early Tuesday in connection with a rash of 10 car break-ins.
“We got a lot of burglary calls, seven of them one right after another, all within the . . . north end of Thousand Oaks” early Tuesday, Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Bruce Watlington said. “Our units started moving in and setting up a perimeter.”
About 4 a.m., Deputy Dave Brantley found two youths in the area of Monte Carlo Drive trying to change two blown-out tires on a car while its motor was running, Watlington said. They had apparently damaged the wheels driving over a median strip, he said.
Brantley held the two, ages 13 and 16, at gunpoint until backup deputies arrived, then arrested them on suspicion of vehicle burglary and booked them into Ventura County Juvenile Hall in Ventura.
Watlington said deputies believe that the two were working with a third suspect, who stole a van nearby and fled.
They had been smashing car windows and stealing stereos and other electronic equipment, and deputies found evidence in their cars tying them to the break-ins, Watlington said.
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