On Tuesday, June 28th, 2011 at approximately 2:29 PM, Santa Paula Police Department Motor Officer Dan Potter initiated a traffic stop on a 1998 Brown Oldsmobile Brava in the 1000 block of E. Main Street.

The driver of the vehicle failed to yield for the red light and continued S/B on Ojai Street to the area of 10th and Harvard where it entered the W/B 126 Freeway. The vehicle exited Palm Ave at a high rate of speed and the driver lost control and crashed into a highway sign and bushes and ended up in a drainage culvert near the W/B 126 on-ramp. The driver and occupants fled the scene on foot. A perimeter was set up by police, detectives and assistance from the California Highway Patrol. A records check of the vehicle revealed it had been stolen out of Ventura, Ca.

Within a few minutes a subject was detained by CHP on the south side of the freeway and identified as the driver of the vehicle. Two other suspects who fled from the vehicle have been identified by Officer Potter.

Officers inventorying the vehicle located items and property believed to be stolen. During the follow-up investigation the property was found to have been taken in two separate burglaries, one in Carpinteria, Ca and the other from Ventura, Ca.

Arrested and charged with delaying and obstructing a police officer and auto theft was Juan Jaime Arias (21 years of Santa Paula). Follow up is being conducted by investigators to determine Aria’s and the two suspects who fled involvement in the burglaries.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Detective Sergeant Cordero at 525-4474x220 or at icordero@spcity.org.

Carlos Juarez
Lieutenant
cjuarez@spcity.org