Camarillo Violent Crime Rate Rises, Identity Thefts Double

While crime declined in most local cities last year, reported offenses rose in Camarillo for the second straight year as that upscale community continued a tradition of steep swings in some criminal offenses.

Camarillo’s serious crime increased only 5.5% overall, but a sharp hike in violent incidents showed how easily statistics can shift up or down in a city where the number of offenses is relatively small.

“There weren’t any significant changes that I’m concerned about,” said Sheriff’s Cmdr. David Tennessen, who acts as police chief in Camarillo. “There was nothing that creates a real red flag for me.”

The 36% jump in felony violence last year represented 27 more incidents of rape, robbery and felony assault for a total of 102. By comparison, property crimes increased just 3.4%, or by 37 incidents, largely because of big increases in auto thefts and arson.

Overall, Camarillo’s serious crime increased by 64 incidents to 1,226. That equates to a rate of about 21 crimes per 1,000 residents, a sharp drop from the historic high of 31.1 a decade ago.

“I always compare Camarillo to my hometown, Sioux Falls, S.D., and [Camarillo] has an even lower crime rate,” Tennessen said.

In Ventura County, Camarillo’s crime rate is much lower than Oxnard’s or Ventura’s, but well above Simi Valley’s or Thousand Oaks’. Its rate is lower than Ojai’s, but double that of Moorpark, the county’s safest city.

Despite large percentage increases in robbery, Tennessen said the heists often involved bicycles or skateboards, and verbal threats were used, not weapons. Likewise, he said most assaults were fights between people who knew each other. Many were incidents in bar parking lots--and not random acts of violence against residents.

“We’re not talking about Mr. and Mrs. Smith [being harmed while] walking down the street,” Tennessen said. “We’re talking about incidents where the suspects were known by the victims.”

Deputies are working with the owner of Dimensions bar in central Camarillo--with assistance from state alcohol-license investigators--to demand more security in the bar’s parking lot, he said.

Auto thefts also increased from 44 to 80 during the last year. But Tennessen said that reflects a return to normal after an extremely low total in 2000. “Our 10-year average is about 76 a year,” he said. Auto thefts totaled 188 in 1991.

But, as with neighboring Thousand Oaks, Camarillo’s most significant crime trend last year was the emergence of so-called identity theft, in which a criminal uses a stolen credit card to commit theft or to create false bank accounts for fraudulent purposes, Tennessen said.

Identity thefts more than doubled to 206, he said.

Part of the problem was eliminated in mid-2001, when patrol officers Conrad Harvey and Nora Soler stopped two Oxnard residents for a blocked license plate, then arrested the pair after they ran off.

Det. Sgt. Patrick MacAuley linked documents found in the couple’s car to a sophisticated forgery and fraud ring that had claimed 1,100 victims across the nation and in foreign countries, Tennessen said.

“They were using stolen credit card information downloaded off the Internet to computers in their motel room,” he said. “They used stolen credit card information and banking information to create documents and access bank accounts.”

Trevor Zeise was convicted of numerous felony counts and is serving a six-year prison sentence, while his accomplice is in custody in Ventura County Jail for some of the same offenses.

Police have also made progress against credit card and check theft by persuading some merchants at the popular Camarillo Premium Outlet Mall to require buyers to use inkless fingerprinting on receipts.

Meanwhile, home and residential burglaries fell slightly last year, continuing a decade-long drop from a high of 487 to 186.

That high 1991 total reflected a surge in burglaries by Los Angeles County thieves who dropped into town off the Ventura Freeway, then left quickly after the crime, Tennessen said. A similar pattern occurred in 1995. In both cases, a burglary ring was busted and total crimes fell sharply.

Tennessen said Camarillo now focuses on preventing such property crimes through revitalizing Neighborhood Watch networks and by assigning a four-person special enforcement unit to an area when a trend is detected.

“The officers can be on bikes or in plain clothes or in uniforms for high visibility,” Tennessen said. A spate of burglaries in Camarillo Heights early last year was cut short by beefing up patrols, he said.

Special efforts to rally the community also apparently worked, he said, since residents called police for help 22,000 times last year compared with about 20,000 the year before.

“We’ve been focusing on trying to get more and more information out to the public,” he said.