Incidents of crime throughout the VCCCD this March have been minimal, yet more significant crimes which plagued campuses early in the semester remain unsolved.
There have been no further reports of burglaries from cars on any of the campuses. However, according to VCCCD Chief of Police James Botting, the suspects involved in the chain of burglaries that plagued Ventura College throughout January and early February are still unknown. No suspect has been identified in the attempted kidnapping reported at the Ventura campus in February, yet no similar incidents have been reported, nor has the suspect been sighted on campus since a composite sketch was released. Petty theft is a more continual but trivial concern; police constantly receive reports of “a lot of missing cell phones,” said Botting.
“About the biggest thing we’ll get is minor theft,” said Lt. Steven Kegley, who heads the campus police department at Moorpark College.
“We’ve been lucky that there hasn’t been any real violence, or any assaults,” Kegley commented, in regards to the type of crime that has been reported throughout the district this semester.
The report of battery that occurred at the Ventura campus on Feb. 28 was determined to consist of a physical fight between two females on the baseball field, Botting said. Neither was seriously injured, and the incident has been referred to the disciplinary dean.
The incident “should have been an embarrassment to both of them,” Botting stated. Much to the relief of campus police, the fight was short-lived and relatively inconsequential, Botting said. “Cops hate to get involved in that sort of thing.”
Moorpark College:Mar. 9: A cell phone was stolen from a backpack in the cafeteria while the victim was not looking.
Mar. 9: A car in the C-lot was broken into, and the suspect removed the passenger-side air bag. The victim caught the suspect in the act, and the suspect fled with the air-bag before campus police arrived on the scene.
Mar. 9: The Questa College van, which transported the visiting women’s softball team, was vandalized by an unknown suspect. The Questa emblem which was painted across the team’s van was mutilated and scratched.
Oxnard College:Feb. 21: Campus police pulled over a student driving near campus, and could smell marijuana smoke coming from within the car. Police questioned the driver, who admitted to having smoked marijuana prior to being pulled over, as well as to possessing more marijuana within his car. Police confiscated the remaining marijuana, and the driver was cited and released.
Feb. 23: A fire was started in a trash-can near the Campus Center. The Oxnard Fire Department arrived to put out the fire, and campus police recorded the incident, but could not identify a suspect.
Ventura College:Mar. 8: A hit-and-run was reported to have occurred in the E-lot. The victim’s car was inflicted with minor damages, and the suspect is unknown.
Mar. 9: A student reported that he left his backpack outside near the Satellite Café, and when he returned to search for it, the backpack was gone.
Mar. 9: A student reported that his cell phone was stolen from his belt when he wasn’t looking. The victim was in Sci-231 on campus when the cell phone went missing.
Mar. 12: A vending machine near the S-building on campus was dragged approximately 30 feet. Police informed the owner of the vending machine, and speculate that the suspect tied a rope to the machine to move it, but could not successfully steal the machine or its contents.
Please report any information to Chief Botting, at (805) 384-8384. There are police stations located on all campuses.
