Man Is Arrested in License Plate Thefts

Ventura County sheriff’s investigators said they have arrested a man suspected of stealing license plates from cars at the Wilbur Oaks Apartments in Thousand Oaks.

Detectives said they arrested 34-year-old Robert Michael Greene Monday after finding 110 license plates and street signs in his Wilbur Oaks apartment.

Acting on a tip, the detectives said they searched Greene’s apartment and found the plates, which were packed in a box. Greene offered deputies no explanation as to why he had them, authorities said.

Greene was booked into the Ventura County Jail for possession of stolen property, deputies said. His bail was set at $5,000.

Deputies had been receiving reports of stolen plates since Thanksgiving, said Sgt. Ken Warren.

“We must have had 12 in one night,” Warren said. “And they’re not vanity plates, they’re any plate.”

Desiree Biesterfeld, a Wilbur Oaks resident whose license plate was stolen in December, said she met a deputy one night at the apartment complex who looked weary from responding to calls there.

“I saw a policeman and he said, ‘I’ve been out here so many times,’ ” she said.

Authorities were unsure just how many people had reported their plates stolen, and suspected that many hadn’t. Warren said the plates would probably be destroyed because most of the victims had re-registered their vehicles. “These will be taken off the computer and dumped,” he said.

Biesterfeld said the theft was mainly an inconvenience, costing her time and $8 to re-register her car.

“There’s some weird people out there,” she said of the odd crime. “Nothing surprises me anymore.”