-by F. Scott Faulkner
THOUSAND OAKS, CA — September 11, 2025 — A 29-year-old Victorville man is behind bars in connection with two residential burglaries.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sr. Deputy Robert Curiel, the
first break-in was reported on August 25 “in a quiet neighborhood in the City of Thousand
Oaks.
Ventura County Sheriff’s deputies arrived to find that someone had forced entry into the home and made off with “an undisclosed amount of stolen property.”
Just two days later, deputies responded to a remarkably similar scene in Oak Park, where another
residence had been burglarized under nearly identical circumstances.
Detectives launched an investigation and began piecing together evidence from both crime scenes.
Their work led them to identify Michael Pruitt, 29, of Victorville, as the suspect in both cases.
An investigation revealed that Pruitt was already on state parole for prior burglary
convictions, raising the urgency of the search.
On September 5, detectives from the East County Special Enforcement Unit and Thousand Oaks Police Directed Enforcement Unit
traveled to Victorville, where they located and arrested Pruitt without incident.
Pruitt was transported to the Ventura County Pre-Trial Detention Facility on two felony counts of
residential burglary, along with a parole hold. His bail was set at $50,000.
