Felony Weapons Charge Filed Against Van Buren

VENTURA —  Ventura County prosecutors filed a felony weapons charge Friday against Leodes Van Buren of Newbury Park High, but the All-State football player maintains he is innocent.

Van Buren declined comment Friday other than to repeat his claim that it was a companion who fired a single shot from a handgun into his girlfriend’s home in Newbury Park last month.

After twice requesting arraignment postponements to investigate his statements, prosecutors charged Van Buren, 18, with one count of shooting into an inhabited dwelling, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of seven years in state prison.

The charge stems from Van Buren’s April 8 arrest on suspicion of firing a shot through the back door of Marcie James’ home that morning after he reportedly engaged in an argument with James.

Van Buren promptly reported the incident to a 911 emergency operator and said he fired the shot. James called her mother and told her the same thing.

But the next day, Van Buren denied pulling the trigger, saying a companion did it. James corroborated his story. James, 19, the mother of Van Buren’s 2-year-old daughter and a pitcher on the Moorpark College softball team, has since reversed herself and said that Van Buren fired the shot, according to prosecutors.

“She has more or less come around to her first story again,” said Jim Grunert, a Ventura County deputy district attorney. “The fact that she went and recanted with Leodes (the day after the shooting), we’ll have to deal with that in trial.”

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 26 in Ventura Superior Court. An early disposition conference is scheduled for Friday, at which time Van Buren could plead guilty to a lesser charge.

The status of Van Buren’s football scholarship to attend Colorado is uncertain, pending the outcome of the case. Van Buren, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound wide receiver, led Newbury Park to the Southern Section Division III championship last fall. He is the state’s all-time leader in receptions and receiving yardage.