Los Angeles has more crime stories every day, including home invasion robberies, gang violence, and other out-of-control crimes. However, Ventura County is a completely different place. Crime is increasingly spilling over from Los Angeles County, but Ventura County residents and law enforcement agencies aren’t willing to sit back and allow thugs and thieves to run the show.
This is an example: Alexis Provoste was allegedly a member of a South American burglary ring. Sal Mercado, a Ventura County resident, caught him.
Sal Mercado, whose Oak Park home sits within eyesight of the Los Angeles County line, returned home April 1 from a quick grocery store run and noticed an SUV parked across the street from his home, and a Hispanic man wearing a Dodgers cap sitting there.
John Loesing (local journalist) was the first one to interview Mercado.
Odd, Mercado thought, and as he went to his front door he wasn’t sure what to expect.
“A lot of things race through your mind,” said Mercado, who, as he opened the door, met one of the thieves hustling to get out.
“I just bopped him in the face as he went out. I hit him again and he took off.”
A second man followed the first, but he wasn’t as lucky in his decision to go toe-to-toe with the fit resident who works out regularly at a local gym.
“I saw the second man coming down the stairs. Did he have a gun, a knife?” Mercado said.
Loesing told Mercado that he believed Loesing thought the man in an SUV was speaking to Loesing via radio. He also said the two men wanted out before they were caught. When they came face-to-face with Mercado, they quickly realized they’d chosen the wrong home. Mercado, in an interview for the ABC local affiliate, described what transpired next.
“I just went, again, with the left, BAM, with the right, BAM.”
ABC reporter Leo Stallworth asked, “So you went Mike Tyson on him?”
“Yeah, I went Mike Tyson on him, right then and there. He stumbled, went at him again, then fell on the grass as he — or he stumbled coming out of the house.”
Provoste was not able to get back at the SUV when Mercado confronted him. After the driver and first suspect took off, Mercado shouted to his neighbors for help and called 911. Provoste managed to stand up but it was an error.
“I just tackled him and shoved him into the bushes on the side of my house, because he was all bloodied, and my whole arms were bloodied.”
The thieves weren’t going to leave without some kind of reward, though, and perhaps that’s what slowed them down enough to keep them from fully getting away. This is the Acorn
During the melee a stolen computer and an expensive camera with extra lenses fell to the ground and were recovered, said Mercado’s wife, Denise. But it’s believed the two men who got away still held valuable jewelry.
“We are all very terrified of the situation,” Denise Mercado said. “They were very brazen to come on a Friday night.
“I’ve lived here for 30 years and there’s never been anything like this,” she said.
Mercado told ABC 7 that even after reflection he’d do it again.
“I’d do it again. The thought was, ‘I got this guy. I’m going to catch him. He should be prosecuted. He is not being prosecuted enough. I need to hold him accountable until the police arrive. So my mentality was, ‘Don’t let this guy escape.’ I was fortunate that there were no weapons.”
Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko, a recently-appointed progressive who, until recently, was parroting “restorative justice” talking points and the like, issued a strongly-worded press release:
Alexis Provoste Aranguiz, Chilean, was charged with residential burglary first degree and conspiracy. Because the homeowner was present during the crime, it is possible to add that the burglary could be considered a violent offense.
We ask our residents to remain vigilant and report suspicious activity to local law enforcement,” said District Attorney Erik Nasarenko. “My office will continue to work aggressively with our law enforcement partners to charge and prosecute South American Theft Groups and crews that target residential communities.”
It’s likely that Nasarenko is so vocal on this issue because he’s been working with local Democrat Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin on legislation that would enhance punishment for crime rings, and that legislation has been stalled even though Gov. Gavin Newsom’s been moaning that more needs to be done to curb the problem. All three Democrats are up for election this November, and both Nasarenko and Irwin are vulnerable – Irwin in particular due to redistricting, and Nasarenko because Ventura County residents, who are traditionally on the more conservative side, are very interested in not seeing a George Gascon type of District Attorney in their county. In this specific instance, Nasarenko would do well to ignore California’s SB 54 and turn Provoste over to federal immigration authorities after conviction.
As far as the Mercados, they would probably like to just be able to have a quiet dinner on a Friday night without fear that they’re coming home to find thieves in their home.
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