Day Crimes Prompt Call for Added Officers

VENTURA —  Downtown business owners have been hit by a string of brazen daytime crimes, heightening fears of gang violence and prompting calls for increased police presence on Main Street.

The incidents come as the city is pumping millions of dollars into improving the downtown business district to attract tourists.

In the past two weeks, a longtime leather store owner was hospitalized after being severely beaten during a robbery. And a neighboring jewelry store was held up by a man wielding a crowbar.

At the same time, shopkeepers complain of intimidation by skinhead gang members who knock over outdoor restaurant tables, shout racial slurs and threaten to attack people.

Police say the recent incidents are unconnected and do not reflect increased violence downtown. Nonetheless, they have attempted to restore confidence by meeting with businesspeople and encouraging them to look after those who work alone.

“We’re not experiencing any more crime than we typically do,” Police Chief Richard Thomas said last week. “But if you put on the shoes of the downtown merchants who have experienced a robbery, then one incident is too many.”

Police met with merchants Thursday night, hoping to ease the tension.

But for Joe Betran, owner of Ventura Leather, the effort came a week too late. On the afternoon of June 24, a man in Betran’s store snatched a jacket and fled through a back parking lot. Betran, 47, chased him.

“That was a mistake,” Betran said this week, after three days in the hospital.

Betran caught the robber and grabbed the stolen jacket. But as he walked away, the man kicked Betran in the torso so hard that he collapsed.

The next thing Betran remembers, he says, was that he was bleeding from the mouth and paramedics were standing over him.

Now back at work, he is wearing a brace to nurse broken ribs.

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Authorities said the suspected assailant, believed by police to be an illegal immigrant, was later arrested. Betran said police should heighten their presence downtown to deter such violence.

A few doors away, Donna Small was terrorized on a recent Sunday afternoon by a crowbar-wielding man who walked into the Sentimental Journey jewelry store.

The man knocked over jewelry and jars on the counter, and threatened to smash glass cases if Small did not open the cash register. He fled with $300.

“That’s really intimidating,” said Small, a clerk at the store. “I think we need more patrols. The guy was pretty bold.”

Merchants have also been rattled by the slaying of Felipe Arambula, a downtown restaurant owner gunned down last month in his east Ventura home. Detectives say there appears to be no link to that crime and any activity downtown. Nevertheless, people are upset.

“His business is right down here, and that’s a downtown issue,” Ventura Police Officer Russ Robinson said. “That affects the psyche down here. People want to feel safe.”

Robinson is one of two officers assigned to the downtown police storefront, which opened several years ago to boost law enforcement’s profile.

He said none of the recent crimes appears to have been committed by members of a skinhead gang, who caused major problems last summer.

Police then made about 25 arrests of skinhead gang members, many for attacking passersby with bottles and other items. Officers say there have been fewer skinhead attacks this summer.

But problems remain. Workers at the Blues Bakery, for instance, say skinheads toppled outdoor coffee tables last month.

“They’ve tormented people to no end, spitting on people, turning over tables and grabbing food,” said Robinson, whose office wall is covered with gang members’ mug shots.

Three skinhead gang leaders are in custody at Juvenile Hall on charges ranging from drug trafficking to auto theft, Robinson said. Their arrests have caused gang membership to dwindle, he said.

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City officials, meanwhile, are moving ahead with a downtown face-lift that has brought improved streets and sidewalks, additional trees and a new parking garage.

Activists have targeted downtown bars accused of causing problems. They have already forced the closure of one Main Street bar, the Rendezvous Room.

With a new movie theater complex set to open this fall, leaders say downtown is entering a crucial phase--and that cutting crime should be a top priority.

“This doesn’t stop the revitalization,” City Councilman Brian Brennan said. “But it’s something that needs to be taken care of right away.”