WELCOME FARM WATCH READERS!

Detective Ray Dominguez had the following to report for this edition:

Happy New Year Farm Watch readers, I hope all of you are off to a good start this year. As I mentioned in the last edition, I have been working on the Owner Applied Number Program, and all the renewal letters have been sent out. If you currently have an OAN, but did not receive a letter please contact me at (805) 384-4726 or ray.dominguez@ventura.org for assistance.

With regard to the OAN Program, I have been receiving a lot of calls asking for information, and some commonly asked questions and answers are as follows:

Q: Do I have an Owner Applied Number?

A: If you received a letter, you have a number issued. Check the mailing label attached to the letter for your number sequence. If you received multiple letters from us, that means you have multiple OAN’s issued to you. Please complete each application and send it back to us.

Q: I have multiple farm/ranch properties I would like to register. How do I go about doing it?

A: Make photocopies of the blank application form and fill out the appropriate information as it relates to each property, then send it back to us. If you already have a number issued, we’ll just provide you with a new sequence (i.e. CA0561000A, CA0561000B, etc.). Note the number stays the same, just the last alpha character changes with the addition of new properties.

Note: if you are adding a property that was not previously issued a number sequence, please write “NEW APP” in the upper right corner of the application form. This will help me and our data entry folks with processing the application.

I’ve also been getting calls about where to buy signs. If you are interested in purchasing the reflective metal OAN signs like the one depicted, contact “Mary” at Signs Now in Ventura. She can be reached at (805) 644-0400. They have two locations, in Ventura and Thousand Oaks. The Ventura location is at 4587 Telephone Rd. Mary quoted me a price of $25 / ea.

The Ventura Co. Farm Bureau office also has signs available including “Farm Watch” and “No Trespass” signs. Give Cecilia a call at (805) 289-0155 or contact her by email at cissy@farmbureauvc.com for details.

In looking at the latest crime reports, I’ve seen a number of metal thefts reported including copper wire thefts and irrigation valves. Good news though, as I have been in contact with the folks at Standard Industries (a local recycling yard), and they have been very helpful in providing sales receipts and video footage of some local crooks bringing stolen property to the yard. One suspect, Miguel Burciaga, of Saticoy is already in custody facing charges, and a second suspect has been identified in another metal theft case and should be in custody soon.

Thanks for the interest and calls related to the OAN Program. I’ll keep you updated as to the status of the equipment marking program.

The following advice is always wise if you suspect illegal activity on your property:

Call the Sheriff’s Office immediately at 911.
Be a good witness
Note suspect descriptions such as age, height, weight, facial hair, clothing, and shoe type.
If a vehicle is involved, obtain a license plate number and note vehicle color, body damage, bumper stickers, camper shell, after market tires and wheels, etc.
Provide the dispatcher with information about the time and last known direction of travel.

If you are not sure of how to address the problem or would like additional crime prevention tips please contact your local Sheriff’s Office substation or Detective Ray Dominguez directly at (805) 384-4726 or by email at ray.dominguez@ventura.org.

Contacts:

Camarillo Detective Robert Arthur, robert.arthur@ventura.org

Fillmore Detective John Fox john.fox@ventura.org

Ventura Detective Dennis Smith dennis.smith@ventura.org

Agricultural Crimes Detective, Ray Dominguez at Ray.Dominguez@ventura.org

As always, we would like to thank Sheriff’s Crime Analyst Karen Brown and Det. Ray Dominguez, for this issue’s great crime and alert update.

Be alert and always safe!

Monica (797-6338)

Geoff Dean - Sheriff

John Crombach and Gary Pentis - Assistant Sheriffs