Santa Barbara lewd act cases result in two arrests

SANTA BARBARA — Two separate suspects have recently been identified in independent cases involving lewd acts upon multiple victims throughout Santa Barbara County.

In comments made to the media from his office at Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department headquarters on Aug. 16, spokesman Drew Sugars indicated that his department is seeking “any additional possible victims” who may have had contact with Alejandro Robles, 22, who is suspected of felony lewd acts with children under the age of 14.

Robles was arrested Aug. 11 following reports that he had molested a 12-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy in May of this year. As sheriff’s detectives conducted an investigation spanning a three-month period, it was determined that Robles had, according to Sugars, “committed questionable acts with the 12-year-old on several occasions over the past three years,” and that Robles had access to the child through an older sibling whom he was dating during that period. Evidence of a third underage victim has also been reported and is currently under investigation.

Robles has been booked into Santa Barbara County Jail for felony charges of lewd acts with a child under 14, false imprisonment, dissuading a witness, and sexual battery. He is currently released from custody, having posted $100,000 bail.

Jorge Luis Ortiz, 22, was arrested Aug. 9 in a sting operation conducted within the city limits of Carpinteria, during which Ortiz “committed a lewd act in front of an undercover deputy,” according to Sugars. Following his arrest, sheriff’s detectives conducted victim interviews on more than a dozen female victims who ultimately identified Ortiz, commented Sugars, as “the man who would masturbate in view of female pedestrians passing him on the sidewalk.”

Ortiz was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on multiple charges of lewd public acts, indecent exposure, and sexual battery. He’s currently held on a no-bail immigration hold.