Ventura teen arrested for “hot prowl” burglary linked to stolen garage door openers

VENTURA, Calif. -- A Ventura man was arrested for multiple crimes after a home burglary early Monday morning.

At around 2 a.m., Ventura police responded to reports of suspicious activity at the 1000 block of Gilbert Lane in Ventura.

The reporting party said they saw their neighbor's car leave their neighbor's home erratically and hit a parked car in the neighborhood. The car then fled the scene.

On arrival, police began an investigation and found that the suspect went into the victim's unlocked parked car in the parking lot next to the home. The suspect then took the garage door opener from the car and opened the victim's garage. The suspect then proceeded to burglarize the home while the victims were sleeping inside.

The suspect then loaded the items onto the pickup truck, that was parked in the driveway, and drove off. While fleeing the scene, the suspect hit a parked car in the area.

Later that morning, another report came in about another hit and run in the area of Telephone Road and Wells Road in Ventura.

Police officers arrived on scene and found the suspect coming out from a nearby apartment and going into the stolen truck.

Officers were able to contact the suspect and detain him on scene.

Officers searched the truck and found items linking the suspect to the burglary, car theft, theft and found evidence of both hit and runs.

The suspect was identified as a Ventura man.

He was arrested for first degree residential burglary, car theft, petty theft and two counts of hit and run.

The truck and stolen items were returned to its owner.

There were additional garage door openers that were found but they did not belong to the victim in this burglary. Police say their owners are currently unidentified.

The investigation is currently ongoing.

Anyone with information to this case is encouraged to contact the Ventura Police Watch Commander at 805-339-4488.

We will have more on the garage door openers related to burglaries starting tonight on NewsChannel 3 at 5 p.m.