Photo: Stock Image
March 12, 2023 – Ventura County, Ca. – With Thousand Oaks Police Patrol Units on what Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Sgt. Laura Natoli described as “high alert for irregular activity”, hanging around a closed restaurant at 2:30 a.m. while dressed in “all black” may not be the most subtle look for one planning a burglary.
But 28-year-old Los Angeles resident Daron Anton Joseph Sawall came under the suspicious gaze of patrol deputies after they pulled into a shopping center parking lot in the early morning hours of March 10th to check out a BMW vehicle sitting there all by itself. As they approached the car, the cops spotted Sawall loitering “by a window of a restaurant.”
When Sawall saw the VCSD patrol unit cruising through the parking lot, he did his best to make himself invisible by concealing himself around a pillar. But when the cop car drove toward the BMW, Sawall bolted, jumped into the car and “drove away at a high rate of speed.” As deputies began to follow the BMW, it promptly “ran a red light” and sped onto U.S. Highway 101 before making the mistake of exiting on the first onramp which led directly to a cul-de-sac.
Deputies then cornered the BMW, approached Sawall, and took him into custody on suspicion of felony evading. The immediately ensuing search of the BMW, however, led to bigger and better things, including the discovery of “a window punch, black gloves, a flashlight, illegal drugs, a crowbar, a Sawzall, tool set, shoulder bag and a handgun loaded with a 30-round magazine that contained 28 rounds.”
Sawall was transported to Ventura County Jail, where he was booked on charges of carrying a loaded firearm, felon in possession of a gun and ammunition, possession of a large capacity magazine, possession of stolen property, possession of burglary tools, attempted commercial burglary, and possession of a controlled substance. He remains in custody with his bail set at $150,000.
by Robert L. McCullough
