Ventura County Sheriff's deputies arrested a man accused of stealing from multiple Target stores after a license plate reader flagged his vehicle in a Camarillo parking lot.
A 23-year-old Oxnard man was taken into custody at approximately 7:40 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 2, outside the Target at 209 W. Ventura Blvd. in Camarillo, according to a Ventura County Sheriff's Office media release.
The arrest capped a same-day investigation. Around noon on Sept. 2, Target Loss Prevention staff reported to a Camarillo patrol deputy that a male suspect had stolen LEGO merchandise the previous day. The suspect's method, according to the sheriff's office: placing a low-value cat food price tag over a higher-priced LEGO item, then scanning it at self-checkout. The sheriff's office calls the technique "price swapping."
Target Loss Prevention told deputies the same suspect had pulled similar schemes at other Target stores in Ventura County over the preceding months, totaling more than $1,100 in losses. In some cases, the suspect also concealed items and left without paying, the sheriff's office said.
Deputies and the Sheriff's Advanced Real-Time Information Center, known as ARTIC, identified the suspect's vehicle. The vehicle's plate was entered into the sheriff's Automated License Plate Reader system, or ALPR, which scans plates and sends real-time alerts when a flagged vehicle is spotted.
Around 7 p.m. that evening, a Camarillo patrol deputy received an ALPR alert that the vehicle had returned to the Target shopping center. The deputy found the vehicle in the parking lot.
Target Loss Prevention confirmed the suspect was inside the store, actively swapping price tags on merchandise and concealing other items inside a purse he had picked up in the store. He then used a self-checkout line, again scanning a cat food tag on higher-priced items, the sheriff's office said.
Deputies contacted the man in the parking lot. A search of his vehicle turned up LEGO merchandise stolen during a recent Target theft, the sheriff's office said. Deputies also determined he had stolen pregnancy prevention pills and other personal care products during the Sept. 2 visit. The recovered merchandise was returned to Target.
He was booked at the Pre-Trial Detention Facility on multiple counts of shoplifting under Penal Code Section 459.5 and an outstanding misdemeanor traffic warrant. Bail was set at $10,300.
No booking photo was released.
The arrest is the second time in recent weeks that the sheriff's ALPR system has helped catch a suspected serial shoplifter at the same Camarillo Target. On Aug. 25, deputies arrested two Los Angeles residents after an ALPR alert led them back to the store, where KTLA reported investigators found more than $1,500 in stolen retail merchandise and a small quantity of crack cocaine in their vehicle.
The ALPR system is separate from the Flock Safety cameras that some Ventura County cities have installed on public roads, though both technologies read license plates. As we reported Sept. 9, a software bug in the Flock system exposed Ventura County plate data to hundreds of thousands of unauthorized searches.
The media release was prepared by Sgt. Beau Rodriguez and approved by Capt. Jason Hendren. No court date has been announced.
Anyone with information about retail theft in the area can contact Ventura County Crime Stoppers anonymously at 800-222-8477. Rewards of up to $1,000 are available for tips leading to an arrest and criminal complaint.
