Carpinteria, Calif. – Sheriff’s deputies have arrested a Santa Barbara man for an attempted kidnapping that occurred earlier in the week. On Tuesday, November 9, 2022, Community Resource Deputy (CRD) Bryan Dickey was notified by Carpinteria Middle School staff of a kidnapping incident that had occurred at approximately 4:00 p.m. on Monday, November 8, 2022, in the 5500-block of Carpinteria Avenue near the entrance to the bicycle path. CRD Dickey spoke with the female juvenile reporting party who provided a thorough account of the incident and a suspect description.

SRD Dickey and patrol deputies conducted a follow-up investigation, identifying the suspect as 51-year-old Elias Maldonado from Santa Barbara and tracking him to a motel in the 5500-block of Carpinteria Avenue. Deputies also learned that Maldonado had an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

On Thursday, November 10, 2022, at approximately 9:50 a.m., SRD Dickey along with patrol deputies and a Sheriff’s K-9 unit contacted Maldonado at the Motel where he was taken into custody after briefly attempting to flee.

Maldonado has been booked at the Main Jail for attempted kidnapping of a child under the age of 14 (felony) and obstructing a peace officer (misdemeanor) as well as his outstanding warrant for domestic violence (felony) and false imprisonment (felony). He is being held on $150,000 bail.

**Added 7/1/26**

Note: Criminal cases often continue through the court process long after an arrest is made. If you’d like to learn how a case was ultimately resolved, you can search the Santa Barbara County Superior Court’s online case records using the link below.

Case Records Search | Superior Court of California | County of Santa Barbara