Sheriff’s Deputy Puts GI Joe Into a New Uniform

GI Joe, the macho action figure in military garb that first hit toy shelves in 1964, may be putting on the uniform of a Ventura County sheriff’s deputy.

That’s the plan of local Sheriff’s Det. Kim Garrett, 36, a collector of the toys who moonlights as a paid consultant for Joe’s creator, Don Levine.

“Today’s young kids don’t really understand the concept of the military, because so much of what happens is far away. But they know policemen and firefighters,” said Garrett, whose personal collection of about 3,000 GI Joes is worth an estimated $50,000.

Garrett’s mission to see the action figure become a local cop started three years ago, when he cut up one of his old uniforms and used the material to hand-sew a tiny deputy’s outfit for Joe.

Then he drafted a marketing strategy that would set aside a portion of the profits from the sale of Deputy Joe for local police agencies to fund youth programs that help keep kids out of trouble.

He presented the idea to Levine, who hired him to work on the project for Real Heroes, the Hasbro Inc. division that will soon start cranking out GI Joes who look and dress like peace officers and firefighters, Garrett said.

The first series in the new line of action figures will be out later this year and will initially be available at police association stores, including one in Camarillo.

The line will feature Joe as a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, a New York Police Department officer and a New York City firefighter.

The GI Joe sporting a Ventura County sheriff’s badge is expected by February, Garrett said. Later next year, Joe could begin wearing uniforms from several local departments, including Oxnard, Simi Valley and Santa Paula.

In the Real Heroes line, there will be both male and female GI Joe characters.

Female Joes are nothing new, said Garrett, who owns Joe the chopper pilot figure, a woman. He said he hopes to acquire a rarer GI Joe nurse figure, first produced in 1965.

Real Heroes also will feature cops of different races. In fact, Garrett served as the model for the prototype of the first black GI Joe peace officer.

“It’s an original, and it’s priceless,” Garrett said.

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A gutsy Camarillo woman is being praised for helping to nab a man who police say committed a string of daytime burglaries at six homes near Spanish Hills Country Club.

The woman returned to her house recently to find it being ransacked by a burglar who had parked his car in her driveway and was preparing to haul a television, VCR and other pricey items out the front door, a detective said.

The woman dashed inside her home--avoiding the burglar, who was in another room--and grabbed a portable telephone, said Sheriff’s Det. Jim Panza.

She then dashed outside and called the cops. The burglar sped off before deputies arrived, but the woman provided a detailed description of the getaway sedan and got a good enough look at the guy to help a police sketch artist draw him.

The suspect, 35-year-old roofer Jorge Herrejon, was arrested a week later at his house in Nyland Acres, Panza said.

Inside Herrejon’s home, detectives found a portion of the more than $50,000 in property that had been stolen in neighborhood burglaries, including jewelry and computers, Panza said.

The detective said burglaries in the neighborhood are rare, but when they happen, thieves often go unnoticed because they blend in with dozens of yard men, construction workers and pool boys working at houses each day.

“So many people you see up there are there for a legitimate reason,” Panza said.

Apparently not everyone.

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There’s still plenty of mystery surrounding the death of former Iron Butterfly bassist Philip Taylor Kramer.

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office has ruled that the Thousand Oaks rocker-turned-businessman died as a result of blunt-force trauma and other undetermined factors, but the exact manner of death is undetermined.

Kramer’s remains were found May 29 at the bottom of a steep canyon off Decker Canyon Road, near Malibu. The 42-year-old Kramer had been missing more than four years, before his remains were located.

The cause of death is consistent with Kramer’s van careening off a cliff, authorities said.

Police believe financial troubles and a final phone call Kramer made to 911 the day he died indicate suicide. But his family believes he met with foul play, possibly stemming from his work in the electronics industry.

Just before his death, Kramer believed he was getting close to a discovery that would make it possible to transmit information in a new way.

“We were unable to conclude that it was or wasn’t an accident, and we weren’t able to say it was a suicide,” said Scott Carrier, a coroner’s office spokesman.

Kathy Kramer, the victim’s sister, still hopes to learn the truth and continues to plug her cause to television shows and music magazines.

“[The authorities] have sort of said, because of the length of time and other things, we may never know--unless someone confesses or a witness comes forward,” she said.