by Cindy Summers
Police reports are provided to us by the Ventura Police Department and are not the opinions of the Ventura Breeze. All suspects mentioned are assumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Felony Resisting an Officer, Battery on a Police Officer
On July 6, at approximately 4:15pm, the officer assigned to work inside of the emergency room at the Ventura County Medical Center was contacted by hospital security and told that a subject, later identified as 30 year old Ventura resident Van Null, was disturbing and refusing to leave the front lobby. When the officer contacted Null and asked him to leave, Null immediately took a fighting stance and tried to punch the officer.
The officer attempted to take Null into custody, but he began to violently resist the officer. Additional officers who were inside of the ER, along with an ER staff member, went to assist the officer and after a brief struggle, Null was taken into custody.
After being handcuffed, Null spit on one of the officers.
Null was arrested and later booked into the Ventura County Jail for felony resisting arrest and misdemeanor battery on a police officer.
No officers were injured as a result of this incident.
Vandalism Arrest
On July 11, at 9:40am, the Ventura Police Department Command Center received a call from an employee at PetSmart, 4840 Telephone Rd., reporting a subject disturbing inside the store and banging on the fish tanks. By the time officers arrived on scene, the subject, later identified as 28 year old vagrant Matthew Blair-Oliver, had already reached into the fish tanks and grabbed several fish, killing 3 of them. Additional fish were harmed.
Blair-Oliver was detained and later arrested for misdemeanor vandalism.
It was determined because these particular fish are not considered an endangered species it did not qualify for cruelty to an animal, therefore were the property of PetSmart and killing them constituted vandalism.
Armed Bank Robbery ***UPDATED***
On June 30, at approximately 2pm, the Ventura Police Command Center received a call from an alarm company reporting a robbery alarm being activated at Rabobank, 1171 S. Victoria Ave. Shortly after the call, an employee of the bank called 911 and confirmed that a robbery did in fact occur. Upon arrival of the officers, they determined the suspect had already fled the bank and was last seen leaving the area on a small BMX style bicycle, westbound through the shopping center.
During the investigation officers learned the suspect entered the bank and approached one of the open teller windows. At the counter, the suspect produced a black semi-automatic handgun from inside a large envelope he was holding and demanded money from the clerk.
The clerk gave the suspect an undisclosed amount of money, and he fled the bank. He was last seen fleeing the scene on the bicycle.
Officers checked the area, but were unable to locate the suspect. No one was injured as a result of this incident.
The photos provided are from the bank’s surveillance cameras.
The FBI was notified. The Ventura Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit will be conducting the investigation. Anyone with information related to this incident is urged to call the Ventura Police Department at 339-4488 or the Watch Commander at 339-4416.
***UPDATED INFORMATION***
The Ventura Police Department Major Crimes Detectives, along with investigators from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, continued the investigation into this crime and were able to identified 39 year old Ventura resident Francisco Hernandez as a person of interest. On July 13, at approximately 6:30am, the Ventura Police Department’s SWAT Team and Major Crimes Detectives conducted a search warrant at Hernandez’s residence in the 500 Block of Cedar St. During the search, a Ventura Police K-9 was deployed and helped locate Hernandez concealed inside of a couch. He was taken into custody without incident.
Hernandez was booked into the Ventura County Jail for armed robbery.
Possession of a controlled substance arrest
On July 12, at 8:30am, Ventura Police Department Street Crimes Unit Detectives assisted city Code Enforcement officers with an inspection warrant in the 100 block of James Dr.
This location has been the subject of several prior narcotic investigations and two of the residents recently pleaded guilty to maintaining a place of drug use.
This morning when detectives and code enforcement arrived two subjects were located sleeping in an unauthorized converted garage and four more subjects were located sleeping in an unpermitted back house.
All of these subjects were detained and later cited by code enforcement. One of the subjects identified as 38 year old Ventura resident Jose Hernandez was found to have an outstanding warrant for his arrest re narcotic violations. He was later booked into the Ventura County Main Jail.
During the inspection of the property, numerous items of narcotic paraphernalia were observed that indicated to detectives that drugs are still openly being used. One of the residents, 43 year old Ventura resident Victor Leon, was arrested for possession of a small amount of methamphetamine that was located in his makeshift sleeping area.
Detectives also noticed a small coin type purse in a vacant parking lot directly behind the converted garage. It was believed that this purse was discarded through the open garage window over the back fence.
Detectives constructed a pole with a hook and were able to retrieve this purse that was found to contain over two ounces of methamphetamine, over one-half ounce of heroin, and a small quantity of cocaine. It was estimated that the street value of these narcotics was approximately $2,000.00.
It was not known who discarded the purse over the fence and detectives will conduct further forensic tests to determine who was in possession of this item.
This investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about this crime please contact the Ventura Police Department Street Crimes Unit Narc Hotline at 805-339-4331.
