Roundup: Simi Valley police investigate shooting, more news
Here's a roundup of recent incidents and announcements from Ventura County agencies:
Simi police investigate shooting
A shooting Wednesday evening in Simi Valley remained under investigation Thursday, police officials said.
The incident was reported shortly after 5 p.m. in the 1500 block of Patricia Avenue, said Simi Valley Police Department Sgt. Josh McAlister.
A male victim appeared to have been shot in the leg, he said. The injury was not life-threatening. The man was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
On Thursday afternoon, the department said in a news release the shooting apparently resulted from a neighbor dispute.
No arrests had been made as of 3 p.m. Thursday. Authorities said there was no danger to the public.
The incident remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Kevin VanFleet at 805-583-6182.
Former high school employee changes plea in misconduct case
A former Westlake High School employee pleaded guilty last week to felony sexual misconduct charges in a case that involved a student at the school.
Thomas Ballas, 33, of Thousand Oaks, pleaded guilty on June 14 to two felony counts of sending harmful matter to a minor, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office. He also admitted to several special allegations, court records show.
Ballas had previously pleaded not guilty to charges and denied special allegations after his arrest in December.
Ballas had worked as a technical specialist for the school's theater department. He was arrested on Dec. 2 after reportedly sending "numerous illicit images" via social media to an underage female student at the school. He was fired by the Conejo Valley Unified School District after his arrest.
Ballas, who remains out of custody on bond, is scheduled to be sentenced on the morning of July 21 in room 23 of Ventura County Superior Court.
Alleged thieves targeted landscape workers
Authorities in Moorpark arrested two Los Angeles men Tuesday suspected in at least eight recent thefts of landscaping equipment.
For about two weeks, investigators with Ventura County Sheriff's Moorpark bureau had been looking into a string of thefts involving two suspects in a dark Chevrolet Tahoe, officials said in a news release. The sheriff's office is contracted to provide police services in the city.
The men, age 26 and 28, allegedly returned to Moorpark repeatedly to victimize landscape workers. They would wait until workers moved to the backyard of a home to steal equipment from the workers' parked vehicles. At least eight victims are tied to the two suspects, authorities said.
On Tuesday, one of the earlier victims recognized the suspects' Chevy Tahoe near Championship and Snead drives and reported it to dispatchers. A traffic sergeant saw the Tahoe heading south on Walnut Canyon Road and pulled it over without incident.
Evidence of the thefts was reportedly found inside the Tahoe. The men were arrested on suspicion of grand theft, conspiracy, possession of burglary tools and a parole hold. They were booked into county jail with bail set at $250,000, officials said.
3 arrests in string of restaurant thefts
Ventura County Sheriff's officials have arrested three Los Angeles residents, including a 16-year-old, suspected in a spree of commercial burglaries in the east county.
The alleged thieves targeted safes and cash at restaurants from January to March.
Some thefts in Thousand Oaks prompted the sheriff's career criminals unit to launch an investigation. The juvenile suspect was believed to have been involved in 18 thefts in the region, including in Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Moorpark, Agoura Hills and Calabasas, officials said.
A 21-year-old Los Angeles man allegedly joined the youth during seven of the incidents.
The sheriff's unit worked with investigators from the agency's Moorpark station as well as the Simi Valley and Los Angeles police departments. During the investigation, they were contacted by police in El Segundo and in Arizona who were part of a task force looking into commercial burglaries and two gun store burglaries in Arizona, where "numerous" firearms were stolen, with the two suspects believed to have taken part in some of the incidents, authorities said. Local investigators obtained arrest warrants for the two.
The juvenile was arrested in Los Angeles County on June 8 on suspicion of 18 counts of commercial burglary and was booked into Ventura County's juvenile justice facility.
On June 15, local authorities worked with LAPD's SWAT team to serve the search warrant at the 21-year-old's residence in Los Angeles. Evidence was reportedly found there and the man was arrested on suspicion of seven counts of commercial burglary. He was also booked on suspicion of robbery and organized retail theft from a 2022 incident in Thousand Oaks.
During the search, detectives found a third suspect, a 22-year-old man, living at the residence. He was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy in one of the Thousand Oaks burglaries.
Items may be updated.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Roundup: Simi Valley police investigate shooting, more news
