Reserve Officer Arrested in Kmart Robbery

A security guard who was a Santa Paula police reserve officer for the last two years has been arrested in connection with an armed robbery at the city’s K mart discount department store last week, authorities said.

Santa Paula Police Chief Walter H. Adair said Michael S. Fagan, 26, of Simi Valley was arrested Saturday afternoon near his home after an investigation that allegedly linked him to the early morning robbery Dec. 23. Fagan also worked as an undercover security detective at the store at 895 Faulkner Road.

Evidence connecting Fagan with the crime was also found inside his home, authorities said.

Police believe a gunman hid inside the store until after midnight, then confronted two female employees who were counting the day’s receipts in a rear office.

The two women were tied up and the robber stuffed the cash and checks into four small bags and fled. As he left, police believe the thief accidentally tipped over a carton containing hydrochloric acid, which filled the rear of the store with caustic fumes.

An officer investigating the incident some time later was overcome by the fumes. He was treated at a nearby hospital and released.

Police found one bag of money outside the store.

After his arrest by Simi Valley police, Fagan was booked at the Santa Paula Police Department on suspicion of robbery and conspiracy.

He was later transferred to the Ventura County Jail, where he was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Fagan joined the reserve force in 1994, according to Santa Paula Police Sgt. Steven Carter, who was reserve officer coordinator at the time. About eight months ago, Fagan requested promotion to reserve officer level 1 and received the promotion, Carter said. A level 1 officer is “almost indistinguishable from a regular officer,” Carter said.

Fagan also was a member of the high-risk entry team. “That’s the closest thing to a SWAT team we have,” Carter said.

Despite his promotion to level 1 and his desire to serve on the elite entry team, Fagan did little to distinguish himself among the 15-member reserve officer corps, according to Carter. He said Fagan, who receives a $900-per-year stipend as a reserve, sometimes did not put in the minimum number of hours required each month of reserves.

“He was a level 1. But we never let him work by himself,” Carter said.

Carter said the arrest has been met with anger by his colleagues, who think the incident has given the agency “a black eye.”