Police Arrest 3 After Home-Invasion Robbery

Police arrested three men who allegedly were involved in a home-invasion robbery at a Santa Paula apartment Thursday where one resident was beaten and another was stabbed in the back.

Although this is the first home-invasion robbery in Santa Paula this year, it is one of nearly a dozen in Ventura County since January.

In nearly every case, a home was targeted by robbers who believed they would find drugs, cash or other valuables, authorities said.

“We haven’t seen a rash of these, but you do get them on occasion,” said Capt. Keith Parks of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

The Santa Paula case, though, appears to be a random incident and not drug-related, authorities said.

Jacob Sebastian and Antonio Magana, both 21, and Ramiro Montelungo, 25, forced their way into a first-floor apartment on the 300 block of South Steckel Drive about 6 a.m., according to Santa Paula police.

A young couple live in the two-bedroom apartment along with four male roommates. Some of the residents are day-laborers and two of the men were getting ready for work when the robbery occurred, said Det. Carlos Juarez.

“The reason one of them answered the door was because someone in the apartment said ‘Your ride is here,’ ” Juarez said.

Two of the male residents tried to resist their attackers and a physical struggle occurred. The intruders stabbed one man in the back and beat another about the head. The stabbing victim was treated at a local hospital and released.

Police did not release the names of the residents for their safety.

During the robbery, one of the residents was able to dial 911. Officer Jim Fogata arrived at the apartment with a police dog and learned from others in the apartment complex that a robbery had just occurred.

Fogata found Sebastian and Magana in a nearby alley with property taken from the apartment, including video games, a cellular telephone, jewelry and a small amount of cash, mostly $1 bills.

Both men were taken into custody without incident. Sgt. Gary Marshall found Montelungo hiding in a pickup truck in a nearby carport. Police said they also recovered a knife used in the robbery.

A set of car keys also found on one of the suspects connected them to a stolen car later recovered in the neighborhood, police said.

Santa Paula Cmdr. Bob Gonzales said the robbery appears to have been a random act and they do not believe the suspects knew their victims.

Detective Juarez added: “Nothing leads us to believe that they were targeted for any reason.”

Sebastian, Magana, and Montelungo were being held at the Ventura County Jail on bail of $50,000 each.

Although the Santa Paula case appears to be a random act, homes in other Ventura County cases have been targeted by robbers who authorities said suspected that a large amount of cash, property or narcotics would be found. And in every case, violence was used to restrain victims. In Ventura County’s home invasion cases this year, victims have been shot, stabbed, beaten, bound and gagged.

On Jan. 21, police said, three gang members barged into a Moorpark home being shared by two families and robbed the victims at gunpoint, threatening to kill them if money wasn’t handed over. Deputies surrounded the home and the suspects surrendered. The case was the third home-invasion robbery in that area in four months.

Parks said immigrants, such as these two families in Moorpark, are often targeted by robbers who believe such families are more likely to keep quantities of cash and valuables in their homes and less likely to turn to police for help.

On Aug. 31, two men identifying themselves as police officers burst into a Port Hueneme home, terrorized an elderly couple at gunpoint and then took $20,000 in cash and jewelry that had been stored in a safe in their bedroom closet.

During a single week in September, the same Ventura apartment shared by two men was the site of three home-invasion robberies allegedly committed by the same man and two accomplices. During one of the robberies, the victims were detained at knifepoint and robbed of more than $5,000 worth of clothes and other belongings.

The primary suspect was arrested after one of the victims shot him during the final robbery. One alleged accomplice was also arrested and one has yet to be caught.

Authorities advise people to keep their doors locked even when they are home and ask unfamiliar visitors for identification before allowing them into a home.

Sometimes, those measures won’t help.

In late May, a Santa Paula man was shot in his left arm by a suspect who fired through the front door of the man’s apartment during an attempted home-invasion robbery. The victim survived and the suspect remains at large.

Dirmann is a Times staff writer; Wolcott is a Times Community News reporter.