Adam Sanchez
Santa Barbara County – The tried and true recommendation about attending social events suggesting that one “arrive late and leave early” in the interests of preserving one’s dignity should perhaps been heeded by at least one of the guests at a July 1st Santa Paula gathering described by the Santa Paula Police Department Watch Commander’s report to the media as a “family gathering.”
When the North 13th Street residential party began on Saturday evening, the guests likely had no thought of attracting the attention of local law enforcement.
But that’s exactly what happened when the festivities stretched into the wee hours of the morning of Sunday July 2nd. It was at approximately 5:00 a.m. Sunday when Santa Paula Police Department patrol officers were dispatched to the residence in response to a call “regarding a 16-year-old female alleging she was sexually assaulted.”
Investigating officers on the scene determined that the alleged female victim, a guest of the “family gathering” that seemed to have no designated hours attached to it, had been the victim of sexual advances and unwanted contact at the hands of 21-year-old Santa Paula resident Adam Sanchez, to whom she is not related.
With their suspect’s identity now in hand, Santa Paula detectives determined Sanchez’s residence location and appeared there just five hours later, at approximately 11:00 a.m. July 2nd. Sanchez was taken into custody “without incident” at that time and transported to Ventura County Jail, where he was booked on suspicion of sexual assault.
Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking.
