Car Thieves Cross Wrong Path With Ventura Couple

When it comes to stolen cars, Ventura residents Greg and Deborah Weilbacher are about as lucky as they are unlucky.

Deborah Weilbacher stepped outside her Ventura home Saturday morning and discovered that someone had taken her 1989 Nissan Maxima--the second car stolen from the couple’s home in recent months.

But while the Weilbachers were out shopping for a new car Sunday they spotted their maroon sedan at a Ventura gas station--with a man seated inside. When the driver sped off, Greg Weilbacher gave chase. Minutes later he helped police capture the suspected car thief in the Poinsettia Pavilion shopping center.

The same thing happened when a thief stole the Weilbacher’s other car about two years ago. They found the car while cruising the area in search of the vehicle.

“Can you believe this?” said Greg Weilbacher, the 31-year-old owner of a Ventura air-conditioning business, as he stood beside the car parked near the Poinsettia Pavilion. “I caught the other guys last time too.”

Jason Guerri, a 19-year-old Ventura resident, was booked into Ventura County Jail on Sunday in connection with the most recent theft. Guerri is being held in lieu of $20,000 bail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and automobile theft.

Greg Weilbacher said the couple noticed that the car was no longer parked in the street outside their east Ventura home about 10 a.m. Saturday. He said his wife had locked the car but had left the key on the floor as the vehicle has a keyless entry system.

The couple set out Sunday morning to look at new cars, but also to comb the city streets hoping they might find their car. As they were returning home about noon after visits to several car dealers, Deborah Weilbacher saw the vehicle at a gas station at Seaward Avenue and Thompson Boulevard.

“Hon, there it is!” Deborah Weilbacher, a Ventura elementary school teacher, remembered saying.

Her husband responded: “It’s ours. Call the police.”

As Deborah Weilbacher dialed 911 from a pay phone across the street, Greg Weilbacher hopped out of the car he was driving and walked toward the vehicle. But Weilbacher said several friends of the suspect approached him, giving the suspected thief time to drive away.

Greg Weilbacher got back in the car and chased the stolen vehicle down Telephone Road toward the Poinsettia Pavilion mall.

During the chase, police said the suspect threw a hammer out the sunroof at Weilbacher’s car. By the time the fleeing driver turned in to the shopping center parking lot, police had arrived and caught Guerri after a short foot chase.

“He fled on foot through that breezeway,” said Ventura Police Sgt. Bryan Roberts, pointing to a narrow alley that runs through the mall, “but we got him.”

While searching the car for evidence, police said they found several cellular phones, checks and credit cards that authorities said appeared to be stolen from numerous victims.