THOUSAND OAKS : Man Arrested After String of Break-Ins

A suspected burglar who authorities said had a tough time breaking into the Thousand Oaks Teen Center--and apparently three area churches as well--was arrested early Monday.

“He wasn’t too sophisticated,” Sheriff’s Sgt. Harold Humphries said.

Rick E. Bourassa, 24, a former Westlake resident and now a transient, was arrested after running from a sheriff’s deputy at about 3 a.m. Monday near the Thousand Oaks Teen Center on Janss Road.

The suspect was trying to break in when the alarm sounded, Sgt. Ken Bailey said.

Investigators discovered credit cards, car keys and food vouchers on Bourassa that they linked to a burglary earlier Monday at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church on Church Road in Thousand Oaks, Humphries said.

About 24 hours earlier, a thief had fled when a security alarm went off at St. Julie Billiart Church on Borchard Road in Newbury Park, office manager Joe Wilson said.

The same night, a thief had broken into the preschool at King of Glory Lutheran Church at 2500 Borchard Road in Newbury Park after failing to get into the church itself, Sgt. Bailey said.

“He tried to jimmy the door to the church, but was unsuccessful,” the Rev. Kenneth Eggers said.

He said the thief, using a sledge hammer and a hoe stolen from a storage shed, smashed through a restroom wall and attempted to enter other rooms. But he reached a wall that was too thick.

He gave up, Eggers said, and went to St. Julie Billiart across the street.

Several doors at the churches were damaged, Bailey said.

“I think it’s a pretty desperate person who would break into a church,” Eggers said. “Some of our people think it’s about the lowest thing you can do.”