Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies arrest 7, recover two stolen cars

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Santa Barbara County Sheriff's deputies arrested seven suspects and recovered two cars on Tuesday.

On Tuesday around 6:30 a.m., deputies responded to a report of a suspicious car in the area of La Mesa Plaza and Santa Rosa Lane in Carpinteria.

At arrival, deputies made contact with a 23-year-old Carpinteria man near the car that was not registered to him.

Deputies found that the car had been stolen from a Santa Barbara woman but had not yet been reported.

The Carpinteria man was arrested for possession of a controlled substance, possession of stolen property, car theft and three warrants violations of probation.

Sheriff's Office says deputies connected the Carptineria man to a hotel on the 5200 block of Calle Real in Goleta for a follow-up. During the visit, deputies made contact with six additional suspects. Deputies found hundreds of dollars' worth of stolen items including mail, luggage, bicycles, tools and electronics.

All six suspects were arrested, the suspects included a 28-year-old Carpinteria woman, a 25-year-old Lompoc man, a 30-year-old Santa Barbara woman, a 32-year-old Santa Barbara woman, a 22-year-old Carpinteria man and a 31-year-old Long Beach man.

All six were transported to the Southern Branch Jail and booked for possession of stolen property, conspiracy, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance. 

The 25-year-old Lompoc man and the 22-year-old Carpinteria man were both booked for the additional charge of possession of a narcotic controlled substance.

At around 12:30 p.m., deputies responded to a report of a stolen car on Kingston Avenue in Goleta.

Two hours later, deputies located the stolen car in the area of Princeton and Somerset in Goleta, deputies say this location was not far from the hotel. Deputies then located items in the stolen car that linked the cases to the previous calls and suspects.

All suspects were released without bail pursuant to the local court’s extension of Emergency Rule 4.

Deputies are currently going through recovered stolen property to identify the owners/victims.

If anyone has any information about this crime, please contact the Carpinteria Sheriff’s Office at 805-568-3399.