– By F. Scott Faulkner
THOUSAND OAKS, CA — March 23, 2026 –– Motor vehicle “checkpoint operations,” in an ongoing effort to provide safe travel on public
highways, are routinely conducted throughout Ventura County.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Cpt. James Sullivan, checkpoint
sites and schedules are determined “based on data tied to impaired driving crashes and areas with
a higher frequency of traffic collisions.”
On March 21, from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., one such checkpoint was established in Thousand Oaks by the Thousand Oaks Police Department Traffic Bureau.
That enforcement effort led deputies to contact 706 motorists, during which “signs of impairment” were observed
in several drivers standardized field sobriety tests were conducted on 32 individuals.
Among those contacted in that six-hour period were Jonathen Fierro, 35, of Simi Valley, and
DeMario McDow, 37, of Thousand Oaks.
Field sobriety tests indicated that both men had been driving under the influence of alcohol with “a blood alcohol concentration above 0.08 percent.”
Fierro and McDow were taken into custody at the scene and transported to Ventura County Jail,
where they were booked on charges of DUI, along with “license-related violations.”
