KVTALOGOSMALL55

KVTA News Briefs

Wednesday May 01, 2024

     Ventura County law enforcement agencies are pointing out that May is motorcycle and bicycle safety and awareness month.

     It’s a time to remind yourself to be safe when you are out there moving around in whatever mode of transportation.

     There’s a long list of “do’s and don’ts” for everyone who uses the streets and roads whether you’re in a car, on a motorcycle or bicycle, or are a pedestrian.

     But what it all comes down to is that everyone needs to be cautious and considerate.

     Everyone who uses the streets, roads, and sidewalks has a right to be there.

     Even if you have the right of way do not assume that drivers, riders, or pedestrians are aware of that.

     Motorcyclists are required to wear helmets and bicyclists under the age of 18 do too.

     Make sure you can be seen, especially at night.

     Know and obey the rules of the road.

     Whatever mode of transportation you are using, be focused and avoid distractions.

 

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      An Oxnard man is headed to prison for eight years for a non-injury gang-related shooting that happened at the end of August last year in the city of Port Hueneme.

     20-year-old Bryan Chacon had earlier pleaded guilty to shooting at an occupied vehicle, assault with a semiautomatic firearm, and street terrorism.

     He also admitted ten special allegations.

     On the night of August 30th last year Port Hueneme police responded to the intersection of Hueneme Road and Surfside Drive to a report of a shooting.

     The found shell casings and other evidence that a shooting had taken place but no suspect or victim.

     The victim was located later and was not injured.

     About three weeks later, with the help of Oxnard police, Chacon was identified as the shooting and arrested.

 

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     The annual quarantine of mussels taken by recreational shellfish harvesters went into effect Wednesday.

     It will last through October.

     The quarantine applies to all species of mussels taken by the general public anywhere along the California coast including all bays, harbors, and estuaries.

     The reason is concern that eating these mussels can expose you to Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning and Domoic Acid Poisoning.

     Mussels may be sold for bait but only if they display labels in large boldface type that say that.

     The California Department of Public Help has a hotline you can call for more information and it is 800-553-4133.

 

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    The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office says a man has died from injuries sustained in a traffic collision in the Ojai Valley Saturday afternoon.

     They say it happened in the 300 block of Grand Avenue near Lion Street.

     Traffic investigators say that 80-year-old David Whalen of Ojai was riding a three-wheeled rascal scooter westbound on Grand Avenue near the bike lane when a vehicle also traveling westbound collided with him.

     Whalen was airlifted to VCMC where he died.

     The sheriff’s office says the accident remains under investigation.

 

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     The United States Attorney’s Office says that a Ventura County man and a Los Angeles County man have been indicted by a federal grand jury in an alleged multimillion-dollar “pump and dump” securities fraud.

     The indictment charges 48-year-old Kalistratos “Kelly” Kabilafkas of Moorpark, and 74-year-old Jack Edward Daniels of Agoura Hills, are each charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of securities fraud.

     The men are accused of conspiring to secretly acquire the freely tradeable shares of a publicly traded shell company that they subsequently rebranded as Airborne using what prosecutors alleged was a more than $474,000 sham charitable donation.

     They are then alleged to have conducted an advertising campaign to inflate the company’s stock price and then sell shares as the stock’s value increased to reap millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains.

     If convicted they could face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.