Oak Park resident detains Chilean national after interrupting burglary

Charges have been filed against a Chilean national who authorities say was interrupted by an Oak Park resident in the middle of burglarizing the home and is part of a South American burglary crew that is targeting homes in Ventura County.

Alexis Provoste Aranguiz, 43, has been charged with first-degree residential burglary and conspiracy, which are both felonies, according to Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko. 

Aranguiz was arrested Friday night in Oak Park, where a resident returned home to find a strange SUV idling in his driveway. The District Attorney's Office says the resident found two burglars inside and hit one of them before he was able to run away and get into the waiting SUV. The resident was able to detain Aranguiz as he emerged from inside the home until Ventura County sheriff's deputies arrived, according to Nasarenko's office.

A booking photo of Aranguiz released by the Ventura County Sheriff's Office shows him with a swollen, black right eye, several scrapes to his face and left temple, and a possibly broken nose. He pleaded not guilty to the charges Tuesday, and was scheduled to return to court on April 14.

Aranguiz is believed to be one of a number of South Americans who have been traveling to Ventura County just to commit crimes.

Deputies in Ventura County have made a number of arrests in recent months they say are part of a growing problem of South American theft groups. A special enforcement unit arrested two Chilean nationals, a 14-year-old and 25-year-old Byron Manuel Moris Perez, on suspicion of burglarizing a Camarillo home on March 2. A search of their hotel room uncovered a large sum of cash and jewelry suspected to have been stolen from residential burglaries, sheriff's officials said. Two alleged members of their crew had already been arrested in connection with that burglary — 33-year-old Lorenzo Galvez Valdivieso and 18-year-old Enrico Francesco Martinez, who were both also determined to be Chilean nationals.

"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," Nasarenko said in a statement.

Aranguiz's alleged partner in the April 1 burglary remains at large, and Aranguiz is being held on $150,000 bail.