Vendor’s Valentine Roses Stolen in Drive-By Robbery

Call them the Grinches who stole Valentine’s Day.

Two men were seen robbing a flower vendor at the corner of Central and Santa Clara avenues of approximately four dozen red roses Monday morning, authorities said.

“These two guys certainly aren’t Cupid,” said Ventura County Sheriff’s Capt. Keith Parks.

A man who was driving in the area around 10:40 a.m. witnessed the incident, telling deputies that when the pair pulled up in a car, the passenger jumped out and snatched the Valentine’s Day loot.

The witness used his cell phone to call authorities and then followed the thieves to a house on Strickland Drive in El Rio, Parks said.

Deputies knocked on the front door but could not get the residents who answered to consent to a search of the house. The flower vendor also refused to cooperate with deputies, Parks said.

Authorities found the car thought to be used in the crime, but no flowers could been seen inside the vehicle, Parks said.

Without the help of the victim, Parks said making a case against the flower thieves would be tough. Detectives will decide whether to continue the investigation, he said.