Los Angeles man arrested for sex crimes against child connected to 2019 case
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- A Los Angeles man was arrested Wednesday morning as part of an ongoing investigation involving the sexual abuse of multiple boys.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff's announced that Vicente Lopez Ceballos, 25 of Los Angeles, turned himself in at the sheriff's office Wednesday morning.
Ceballos had an arrest warrant for unlawful sex with a minor from a case back in 2019.
The arrest links back to an investigation from 2019 when a Buellton man who served as a yearbook consultant at a number of local schools was arrested for more than two dozen counts of sexually abusing underage boys.
On April 9, 2019 investigators arrested Gregory Scott Ray on 28 felony and 3 misdemeanor charges related to his sexual abuse of 12 boys. Ray's alleged victims ranged in the age of 13 to 17 years old with some of these offenses dating back to 2007. Following his arrest, more victims came forward alleging abuse by Ray.
In the course of the investigation, detectives discovered that Lopez and Ray both engaged in sexual acts simultaneously with a 14-year-old boy.
Lopez Ceballos was arrested on a warrant for oral copulation of a person under 16 and sodomy of a person under 16.
He is being held at the Santa Barbara County Jail on $100,000 bail.
Ray has pleaded not guilty to felony charges including lewd and lascivious act on a dependent adult with force, sexual penetration with a foreign object on a victim under the age of 16, and sodomy of a person under the age of 14 with force.
Detectives say they have interviewed numerous victims but there may be others who have not been contacted.
Detectives are encouraging anyone with information that may lead tot he discovery of other victims to contact Detective Vasquez at 805-934-6170 or give an anonymous top at 805-681-4171.
