Driver to face murder charge

A Camarillo man will face a murder charge after allegedly plowing his pickup truck into two co-workers who were standing in front of a house on the 1600 block of Dewayne Avenue last month, authorities said.

Deyvis Soza, 22, one of the men hit, died Fri., Nov. 3 as a result of his injuries. A third coworker who was with the pair on the sidewalk was not injured.

Police said the driver, Lester Varnum, 20, was drunk at the time.

According to Capt. Ron Nelson with the Ventura County Sheriff's Department, deputies arrested Varnum after he crashed his black Nissan pickup truck into a home on the 1800 block of Dewayne Avenue around 3 a.m.Sat., Oct. 28.

Soon after deputies arrived at the crash scene, Nelson said, they learned that Varnum had hit the two men in front of a house a short distance from where Varnum had smashed his truck.

One of the victims was treated for minor injuries; Soza, a Camarillo resident, was hospitalized in critical condition.

Richard Simon, a senior deputy district attorney with the Ventura County district attorney's office, said that although Varnum's toxicology tests have not been completed, deputies said Varnum showed signs of being under the influence of alcohol when he was arrested.

"He was drunk when he ran over the two men on the sidewalk," Simon said.

Simon said it appears Varnum aimed his truck at the group of men, upset that they wanted to take the truck away from him because he was drunk.

Varnum is being held in lieu of $1.5 million bail.

-Daniel Wolowicz