Ventura Police Department – Incident Press Release
UPDATE: Ventura Police Detectives continued this investigation and determined that two suspects entered the store and locked the door to prevent employees from leaving. One suspect (Craven) was armed with a handgun and the two suspects (Craven&Valentine) took an undisclosed amount of US currency. The third suspect (Virgen) was waiting outside, in a running vehicle, for the others to exit the store. This led to detectives identifying three suspects involved in this crime. Detective arrested two of the suspects on 12-15-20. One remains outstanding.
Philip Craven 11-3-88 was booked into Ventura County Jail on charges of robbery, false imprisonment, conspiracy, and felon with a firearm. Craven has prior arrests for burglary, identity theft, drug charges, stolen vehicle and other misc. crimes.
Angel Virgen 11-9-87 was booked into Ventura County Jail on charges of robbery, false imprisonment and conspiracy. Virgen has prior arrests fro forgery, identity theft, stolen vehicle, and drug charges.
The outstanding suspect is Frank Valentine 8-5-91. He is currently wanted in connection to this crime.
On November 15th at 3:13 PM, the Ventura Police Department Command Center received a call of a robbery at Smokers Paradise, located at 1413 S. Victoria Ave. Investigating officers learned that two suspects entered the business and one displayed a handgun at the clerk while the second suspect removed cash from the register. Upon obtaining an undisclosed amount of money, the suspects left the business and got into a dark-colored sedan. The vehicle was last seen traveling northbound through the Victoria Village parking lot towards Gaviota St.
Patrol Officers checked the area but were unable to locate the suspects. The clerk was not injured during this incident.
Anyone with information related to this crime is asked to contact Ventura Police Major Crimes at 805-339- 4444.
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