2 Men Arrested in Alleged Burglaries

A pair of burglaries reported within 15 minutes of each other Monday morning in Thousand Oaks ended in two arrests, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department said.

Police arrested Stanford Mitsho Oato, 46, of Monterey Park and Dionisio Ochoa Pizano, 22, of Oxnard in the two unrelated crimes. A third suspect escaped in a car, deputies said.

The first incident occurred at 10:55 a.m., when Oato and an accomplice tried to break into an occupied house in the 3000 block of Medicine Bow Court, deputies said.

The homeowner, who asked not to be identified, heard the men prying open the door and chased them, deputies said. Oato allegedly ran away, and the other man drove off in an older-model four-door Dodge sedan. Before driving away, the burglar hit the homeowner in the jaw with what appeared to be a tire iron, deputies said. The homeowner, who was not seriously hurt, dialed 911.

Deputies found Oato in a nearby park. The homeowner identified him as one of the burglars, deputies said. Oato was arrested on suspicion of residential burglary and was booked into Ventura County Jail.

The second incident, which resulted in the arrest of Pizano, occurred 15 minutes later. Employees at Blue Cross, located in the 4500 block of La Tienda Road, became suspicious when they saw a man in the company parking lot carrying stereo equipment. A car in the same lot had been burglarized several days before, deputies said. Officers arrested Pizano on suspicion of vehicle burglary and booked him into Ventura County Jail.