Here’s a roundup of recent incidents and announcements from Ventura County agencies:
Woman allegedly tried to grab child from shopping cart
An off-duty Ventura police officer called 911 and then intervened after seeing two people struggle over a child in a parking lot Thursday evening.
The incident ultimately led to the arrest of a 56-year-old Ventura woman who allegedly tried to grab the child from a shopping cart, Ventura Police Department officials said.
The officer had been leaving a store around 6 p.m. in a shopping center in the 7800 block of Telegraph Road, near the intersection with Kimball Road, and saw a man and woman struggling over the screaming child, who was about 3 or 4 years old. The man was yelling for the woman to let go of his child as the off-duty officer called 911.
As the adults were struggling, the woman reportedly kicked the man and tried to punch him but instead hit the child, according to the police account. The man shouted he didn’t know the woman and called for help.
The off-duty officer got between the two adults and pushed the woman, who fled. She was later detained by officers and ultimately arrested on suspicion of attempted kidnapping, battery and child endangerment.
The man and his child were treated at the scene for minor injuries. The father told police that as he rolled the shopping cart outside, the woman had approached, grabbed the child with both hands and tried to lift the child from the cart.
The woman remained at the Todd Road Jail facility Saturday with bail set at $110,000, jail records showed.
Police catch alleged burglar and nearby squatter during same call
Police responding to a pizza shop burglary Saturday morning in Simi Valley also wound up arresting an alleged squatter at a vacant business nearby.
Officers had initially responded to the Papa Johns Pizza at 2202 Tapo St. around 5:30 a.m. after a security guard noticed the front window was broken, according to the Simi Valley Police Department. The site is in the Santa Susana Plaza, south of Cochran Street.
Police found a 61-year-old Simi woman inside. Authorities say she used a metal table in front of the shop to smash the window, then threw cleaning chemicals around the store once inside. She was found hiding in a bathroom and arrested on suspicion of burglary.
While investigating the burglary, officers saw a 52-year-old Simi man leaving from the rear of a vacant business in the same building and determined he had been living there illegally after breaking in. He was arrested on suspicion of squatting.
Officers ultimately determined the two incidents were unrelated, the department said.
Former coach enters plea in case involving student
A former volunteer football coach at Pacifica High School in Oxnard has pleaded not guilty to felony charges involving an alleged sexual relationship he had with a female student at the school.
Oxnard resident Aaron Mora, 24, entered the pleas during a continued arraignment on Thursday, according to Ventura County Superior Court records. Prosecutors have charged him with oral copulation of a person under 18, sending harmful matter to a minor and possession of child pornography, all felonies, along with special allegations.
The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office alleges he exchanged nude selfies with the underage student and the two eventually had a sexual encounter.
Mora, who graduated from Pacifica in 2016, was a former linebacker for the football team. He was terminated from his volunteer coaching position immediately after his arrest in late September. He remains out of custody on bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for the afternoon of April 14 in room 12.
Items may be updated.
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