County deputy wins club's best officer award

Ventura County Sheriff 's Dep. Mario Molina has been named the Camarillo Optimist Club officer of the year.

The Camarillo Optimist Club presented the award to Molina during a ceremony held last night at the Boys & Girls Club in Camarillo.

Molina, 38, has worked for the Sheriff 's Department for eight years and at the Camarillo station for about two years. He was raised in Ventura County and served five years in the Marine Corps, including two tours in the Gulf War, where he served as a noncommissioned officer assigned to a reconnaissance unit.

Molina has a bachelor's degree in criminology from Fresno State. He is working on a master's degree in emergency services at CSU Long Beach.

Molina and his wife, Elizabeth, have been married for five years and are in the process of adopting a 4-year-old boy from Haiti. Molina has been a Big Brother in the Big Brother Big Sisters program of Ventura County for eight years.