Alleged leader of Central American rural crime ring wanted
December 22, 2010
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
An organized crime ring out of Central America has been hitting farm properties throughout the western county, and now the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department is asking the public’s help in capturing the ringleader.
According to VCSD/Fillmore Police Chief Tim Hagel, Detective Ray Dominguez “headed up a six-county task force that spent six months chasing rural thieves known as the Connex Burglars,” an organized crime ring from Central America. The ring has hit Ventura County farmers, nurseries and ranches for nearly $250,00 in stolen equipment.
In November, Dominguez and his team “broke open the ring and made arrests,” assisted by tips received through Farm Watch, the county’s rural version of Neighborhood Watch that has hundreds of active members. But, noted Hagel, “We need more help” in capturing the leader of the ring, who is not only wanted by the VCSD but also by federal authorities.
Hagel said those who believe they see the suspect, 34-year-old Wilfredo Jimenez, should not approach him but rather call 9-1-1. A poster of Jimenez, who has two small scars on his forehead and sometimes goes by Dominguez, Garcia or Carlos, has been issued.
Hagel urges growers to “Show his picture to your workers... he is a wanted man running from us and yes, he can hide. But with Farm Watch and other concerned citizens, he will eventually be caught and serve time behind bars.”
Early last summer Hagel reported many farms were hit in the area of South Mountain and Balcom roads: “We went out four days in a row to different farms to take reports and collect evidence.” And, Hagel noted, “We were able to recover some great evidence and confirmed that these farms and ranches were all getting hit by the same” thieves reported in Santa Paula, Camarillo and Somis.
Ranchers and farmers in the Aliso Canyon and Foothill Road areas were also “hit by the same theft bandits victimizing the Somis and other areas.... They broke into many seagoing Connex type storage containers on different properties,” taking the contents inside. Hagel recommends rural properties with such containers to always take measures to prevent theft, including placement, parking heavy equipment outside that cannot be hot wired, and super locks.
Hagel noted Ventura County has an average historic ratio of one VCSD deputy for every 30 to 200 square miles of rural farmland. Ventura County Farm Watch, said Hagel, came to the rescue as a system built on “exponential multipliers.... What’s that? Farm Watch has a multiplier effect that connects local rural deputies to more than 500 ranches, farms and nurseries in a 1,800 square mile area.... In a sense,” he added, “it is like having over 500 deputies helping to prevent crime and identify thieves in the same area.”
