Crime and punishment




CORNERED — Dimas Diaz Jr., 43, of Santa Barbara is shot by law enforcement officers following a Jan. 12, 2019 pursuit and standoff on the 101 Freeway at the Las Virgenes Road exit in Calabasas. MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers

CORNERED — Dimas Diaz Jr., 43, of Santa Barbara is shot by law enforcement officers following a Jan. 12, 2019 pursuit and standoff on the 101 Freeway at the Las Virgenes Road exit in Calabasas. MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers

The normally quiet Conejo and Las Virgenes valleys saw more than just a modicum of mayhem in 2019. The bullies, purse-snatchers and other crooks weren’t shy about horning their way into the neighborhoods. Illicit sex also reared its ugly head.

A wild freeway chase ended with a man shot to death Jan. 12 on the 101. Involved in a Camarillo domestic violence dispute and driving a stolen vehicle, 43-year-old Dimas Diaz Jr. led police on a chase to the Las Virgenes Road exit in Calabasas, where he was shot by cops.

In February, an Agoura Hills man, 41-year-old Ali Namin, was arrested on drug charges and found to be in possession of dozens of guns and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

Also early in the year, Calabasas resident Jeff Cooper, a one-time city official, pleaded not guilty to sexual molestation charges dating back to 2018. A jury trial is scheduled for May 2020.

Trying to stem the growing tide of classroom bullying, the Oak Park Unified School District began a curriculum plan to raise diversity awareness among elementary school-age kids.

Opponents berated the plan and called it gay sex education for children.

“OPUSD’s gender diversity lessons are not sex education,” Oak Park director of student support Stew McGugan told The Acorn.

The need for anti-bullying classes became apparent in February when a pair of 12-year-old Medea Creek Middle School girls were physically and verbally assaulted while walking home from school.

Minors who use tobacco were the target of an early 2019 sting by the Las Virgenes Unified School District and the sheriff’s department, who teamed up to catch three local businesses illegally selling tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to underage teens. Four arrests were made.

Purse thieves came out of the shadows and grabbed headlines in 2019 for stealing the unattended bags of women who shopped at local grocery stores and malls. The dozens of purse theft reports came from Trader Joe’s at Westlake and Agoura Hills, Gelson’s Market in Calabasas and The Commons shopping center in Calabasas.

An Agoura Hills gym owner was jailed in March for allegedly committing rape and lewd acts with a child. Nicollas Welker Araujo, 27, owned the Overall Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Agoura.

Two locals became snared in the nationwide college cheating scandal of 2019. Homayoun Zadeh of Calabasas and Stephen Semprevivo, who works for an Agoura Hills-based company, were charged with mail and wire fraud in the attempt to gain favoritism for their children. In April, Zadeh said not guilty; Semprevivo pleaded guilty.

Neil Kimball, a 46-year-old resident of Agoura Hills and former L.A. County Sheriff’s Department sex crimes officer, pleaded guilty in July to molesting a teenager whose case he was investigating.

The unsettling turnover in commanders at the Lost Hills Sheriff ’s Station continued during the year as Lt. Chuck Becerra assumed temporary command of the unit following an illness of Capt. Josh Thai. Becerra was replaced in August by Capt. Matthew Vander Horck, 51.

A 47- year- old Oak Park woman was arrested in early October on suspicion of having sexual relations with two 14-year-old high school students. Amalia Utz allegedly allowed other minors to drink and do drugs at her Shadow Ridge condominium.

The year ended on a positive note for Brandon Hein, one of the convicted killers in the 1995 Old Agoura murder of then 16-year-old Jimmy Farris following a backyard brawl over marijuana. Hein, now 42, was granted parole after serving 24 years in prison. He’s in a five-month review period with release expected by May.