Lewd Acts Suspect In Jail AFter Sheriff's Sting
Several Recent Incidents Prompts Undercover Operation

Carpinteria- August 10th, 2010

Santa Barbara Sheriff’s detectives have arrested a man for lewd acts following an undercover decoy operation prompted by several indecent exposure reports in the Carpinteria area.

In recent weeks, the Sheriff’s Carpinteria Station has received six separate reports of a man who would masturbate in front of women as they walked on the sidewalk. The suspect in these cases was reported by most of the victims to be a Hispanic male, ages 20 to 30, short brown or black hair, 5’02” to 5’10”, thin build.  He was seen riding a mountain bike.

In response to the complaints, Sheriff’s detectives began a decoy operation in Carpinteria to capture the suspect.  At approximately 9:15pm on Monday, August 9, 2010, Sheriff’s detectives saw a man matching the suspect description, who was pushing a mountain bike.  The man with the bike was walking in the direction of an undercover female detective who was walking on 8th Street.

The female detective continued walking and crossed the 8th Street foot bridge.  The male continued to follow her.  After crossing the bridge, the suspect walked his bike past her.  He then got on the bike and rode off.  The suspect then turned his bike around and rode back towards the female detective who could see the man had his hand in his pants, and was masturbating. 

The detective identified herself as a deputy sheriff, and told him to stop. After a short foot pursuit, the suspect was arrested.  He was interviewed by detectives and booked into the jail on charges of 647(a) PC (Lewd Acts in Public).  The case will be sent to the District Attorney’s Office with a request for additional charges of 647(a) PC and 314.1 PC (Indecent Exposure), to be filed on the suspect for the other incidents under investigation.  The man is currently in the Santa Barbara County Jail with bail set at $50,000.

Sheriff’s detectives encourage other potential victims to report any similar incidents to Sheriff’s Detectives at (805) 681-4150. At this time we are not releasing a name or photograph of the suspect as the investigation is still continuing, and other victims may come forward.

For more information regarding news related issues
please contact Drew Sugars, Public Information Officer.

Business Hours: (805) 681-4100
EMAIL:pio@sbsheriff.org