2 Men Arrested in Theft of Teen-Ager’s Sneakers

They were nothing fancy, just a simple pair of tennis shoes, but a 15-year-old Thousand Oaks boy believed his life was in jeopardy because of them.

So he handed them over to the two men who confronted him and demanded the sneakers Wednesday afternoon on a city street near Thousand Oaks High School.

He told police that he and another juvenile were standing near a gas station at Calle Jazmin and Avenida de Las Flores just after 4 p.m. when the two men approached them. The boy told police that the men made verbal threats and said they wanted his shoes.

The boy, who was not identified by Thousand Oaks police detectives because of his age, told police he then noticed an object that looked like the butt of a handgun sticking out of the pocket of one of the men.

Frightened, he took off the sneakers and gave them to the men, who got into their car and drove away.

Aided by the two boys, police found the two suspects a few blocks away, about to enter a Wilbur Road convenience store. They were identified as William Amaya, 20, of Thousand Oaks and Alvaro Casanova, 22, of Agoura.

They were arrested for strong arm robbery and taken into custody. Detective Ernie Montagna said deputies did not find a handgun in the suspects’ car, but did find several other items that could be considered weapons.

“Things like that happen all the time,” Montagna said. “It’s standard in strong arm robberies for someone to come up on a victim and threaten them with something that looks like a weapon.”

Incidents of teen-agers mugging each other--and even in some instances killing each other--for sneakers became relatively common in large cities in the late 1980s.

But the robbery of something as minor as footgear in the middle of Thousand Oaks prompted concern and surprise Thursday in the community.

“Absolutely we are concerned about it,” said Keith Wilson, principal of Thousand Oaks High School. “One of our highest goals around here is to maintain a safe campus and we work really hard at it.”

Wilson said the police notified him of the robbery early Thursday. Seven monitors are stationed around the high school immediately after school ends, he said. But by 4:10 p.m., when the incident took place, the monitors would have been gone.

Besides, he said, the monitors’ area of supervision does not extend across the street to the gas station.

Wilson did not know whether the boy, who reportedly lives near the school, was a high school student. He said this was the first time he had heard of something like this occurring in Thousand Oaks.

Mayor Alex Fiore said he too was surprised to hear about the theft, but credited police with making quick arrests.

But Fiore hastened to add that he believes Thousand Oaks is a safe place to live.

“Things will happen anyplace, in any city, in any town,”