THOUSAND OAKS : Suspected Drug Dealer Out on Bail Is Jailed

A suspected Newbury Park methamphetamine dealer who was freed on bail this week for gun and drug charges was jailed again Friday on suspicion of threatening a witness, said a sheriff’s deputy.

Gary Hazher, 32, and a friend, Jimmy Sewell, 22, of Northridge went to a police informant’s house in Thousand Oaks on Friday morning and threatened to kill him for giving tips to police about Hazher, said Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Gary Pentis. Hazher and another man were arrested earlier this week on suspicion of drug dealing, gun possession, credit card fraud and phone-service theft.

The unnamed informant reported the threat to police at about 11:30 a.m. Friday, and Pentis happened to spot the pair driving through Thousand Oaks about an hour later, he said.

Pentis said he radioed from his undercover car for backup and kept an eye on the dark green Toyota pickup that Sewell and Hazher were riding in. A marked car joined the pursuit and pulled the truck over on the northbound Moorpark Freeway.

When Sewell stopped the truck at the Avenida de Los Arboles exit, the deputies ordered the men out at gunpoint and arrested them, Pentis said.

Pentis said Hazher and Sewell will each be charged with threatening a witness. Hazher also faces an additional charge of credit card forgery and Sewell faces a charge of possessing a stolen credit card voucher.

Bail was set at $262,500 for Hazher and $250,000 for Sewell, according to jail officials.