Man Wanted on Warrants Caught After Holding Pair

A man wanted on several felony warrants, including drug sales, was arrested Wednesday after holding a couple against their will inside their home in midtown, authorities said.

Ventura Police Sgt. Bob Velez said officers were called to the City Center Motel, 837 E. Thompson Blvd., about 3:40 p.m. after someone reported that Scott Cameron Ellison, 36, of Ventura, had struck his girlfriend. The assault occurred at her home in Ventura, and Ellison then drove to the motel, authorities said.

When officers arrived, Ellison, who was wearing long black shorts and no shirt, “bailed out the back,” Velez said.

Officers chased him on foot east across Kalorama Street, and then lost him in the houses between Kalorama and Laurel streets. Fourteen officers established a perimeter around the area, and with the aid of a police dog and a Ventura County Sheriff’s Department helicopter, began a building-to-building search.

What officers didn’t know was that Ellison had entered a house in the 100 block of Laurel Street, where the occupants, a young couple, told police he held them captive, Velez said.

At 4:35 p.m., officers spotted a man wearing maroon pants and no shirt believed to be Ellison running through an alley behind Laurel Street, heading north toward Santa Clara Street.

With officers in pursuit, the man ran through apartments in the 900 block of Santa Clara Street and onto Poinsettia Place, where Officer Darrin Schindler apprehended him, Velez said.

Officers accompanied the woman from the Laurel Street residence to Poinsettia Place, and she identified him as the man who held her and her boyfriend captive, Velez said.

Beneath the maroon pants, the man was wearing black shorts, and officers identified him as Ellison. He was carrying a wallet that did not belong to him, containing $1,300, along with other items officers believe to be linked to crimes committed in the area recently, Velez said.

Neither the woman nor her boyfriend was injured. The man said during the ordeal, Ellison offered him $20 in exchange for the maroon pants and a maroon-colored shirt, but he declined.

Ellison took the clothes anyway, he said.

The shirt was found in an alley near the house, and returned to its owner.

In addition to the warrants, Ellison was to be booked into County Jail in Ventura on suspicion of battery, false imprisonment, burglary and resisting arrest, Velez said.