Trio Arrested for Robbery & Assault with Skateboard

Trio Arrested for Robbery & Assault with Skateboard

Goleta – The UC Santa Barbara campus—an island of academic tranquility wedged between the takeoffs and landings of the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport to the east, and the narrow, densely populated streets of Isla Vista to the west—provides little respite from the world of random street crime just outside its gates.

According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, further evidence of this phenomenon occurred late on the night of April 5th when “a 20-year-old male from Pasadena and an 18-year-old female Santa Barbara City College student were leaving a restaurant and were assaulted by three males.” The hapless young couple were punched to the ground, the male victim being hit repeatedly by a skateboard being used as a weapon.

Raul Torres

Raul Torres

As the male victim lost consciousness, his assailants fled into the night with his female companion’s purse and its contents. A 911 Emergency call soon brought UCSB Police and SBSD Sheriff’s deputies to the scene, whereupon the female victim described the attackers with sufficient detail for law enforcement to broadcast an All Points Bulletin and commence a multi-taskforce search of the local area.

Not long after, “the suspects were subsequently apprehended by several UCSB Police Officers” when they were spotted at a major Isla Vista intersection…riding skateboards at the midnight hour. Taken into custody were Raul Javier Torres, 27, a resident of Goleta, and Juan Bernabe, 24, of Santa Barbara. Arrested with them was a 16-year-old male juvenile.

Both Bernabe and Torres were booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, battery with great bodily injury, and robbery, while the juvenile was transported to Santa Barbara County Juvenile detention. Records show that Torres had been arrested in June of last year on burglary charges, and was already on post-release supervision from prior convictions.

Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking

 

Trio Arrested for Robbery & Assault with Skateboard was last modified: April 15th, 2015 by admin
Categories: Santa Barbara

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