The women, both Hispanic residents of Santa Paula who police are not identifying, told investigators the suspect was Hispanic, about 5’ 2” tall, 130 pounds, and appeared to be about 19 years old. The driver told SPPD officers that the suspect “couldn’t have gotten too far... her car needed gas so he would have had to stop somewhere” before the car ran out of fuel, noted Juarez.Although not an unknown occurrence, Juarez added that carjackers in the city are rare. “We certainly don’t have very many carjackings here in the course of a year... I don’t recall when the last one was.”Anyone with information regarding the carjacking is asked to contact the SPPD at 525-4474 (Dial 2 when the automated connection is made), or call the SPPD Anonymous Tip Line at 933-4253 Ext. 1. Those with information can also call Ventura County Crime Stoppers, 524-0907. Anonymous tips that lead to a conviction could result in a $1,000 reward to the tipster.
Carjacker sought after stealing vehicle low on gasoline
October 10, 2008
Santa Paula Police Department
Santa Paula Police are searching for a suspect who appeared to be holding a shotgun when he carjacked a vehicle low on gasoline from its owner and her passenger outside an area restaurant on Saturday evening.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesSanta Paula Police are searching for a suspect who appeared to be holding a shotgun when he carjacked a vehicle low on gasoline from its owner and her passenger outside an area restaurant on Saturday evening. Lieutenant Carlos Juarez said the incident was reported October 4 at about 9:12 p.m., when the SPPD received a “call of a carjacking that had just occurred at Logsdon’s” restaurant on Santa Maria Street at Santa Paula Airport.“The female victim said she had pulled up, parked her car” on the north side of the parking lot when “a male subject came up holding what she thought was a shotgun. He told the driver and her female passenger to get out and leave the keys in the car.” The suspect then hopped into the 2002 brown Infinity and took off in an unknown direction as the women ran into the restaurant.Juarez said although the suspect did not attempt to steal the victims’ handbags, the driver had “left her purse in the backseat and her passenger didn’t want to be seen with her purse so she threw it into the bed of a pickup truck parked next to the victim’s vehicle” when she got out of the Infinity. “I think the suspect just wanted the car and inadvertently got away with the driver’s purse,” said Juarez. The passenger’s purse was found where she had thrown it after the police arrived to investigate the incident.
