Couple Arrested on Drug Charges After Robbery

Sheriff’s deputies have arrested two Thousand Oaks residents on suspicion of having marijuana with intent to sell, two days after they reported being robbed in their apartment at knife point.

Authorities now believe the earlier robbery may be tied to the victims’ alleged drug dealing,

“It appears that these people had a connection with people in the drug trade,” said Sgt. Frank O’Hanlon. “That was a cause in the robbery . . . they may have brought this upon themselves.”

Peter Booth, 23, and Heather Goldsmith, 22, told deputies that they were watching television in their apartment Monday night when two robbers in dark clothes and bandannas over their faces burst in. Booth said he tried to fight them, but one of the robbers placed a knife to his back, while the second robber took $2,000 stashed in a dresser drawer.

But when police investigators made a follow-up visit to the apartment they found marijuana, as well as scales and packaging materials used to sell the drug, O’Hanlon said, adding that Booth’s earlier account of the robbery is inconsistent with what police found at the scene.

“We tend to believe there was a robbery, because they called the police,” he said. “But we believe they knew the criminals.”

Booth and Goldsmith were both booked Wednesday into the Ventura County main jail and released on bail.