Traffic Stop Yields Arsenal
Santa Barbara – Be careful who you flip “the bird” to while driving through the streets of The Mission City; that guy you think is just another bad driver may well be armed to the teeth.
Eric Allen Ross
Eric Allen Ross, 33, was cruising through the streets of Santa Barbara on the evening of July 19th when he was pulled over in a “very routine traffic stop”, according to Sgt. Riley Harwood, Santa Barbara Police Department Public Information Officer. Patrol officer Aaron Tudor, a four-year SBPD veteran of some notoriety following the December 2011 investigation into his stop of a DUI suspect (pictured) in which he deployed his Taser 13 times, observed Ross’ Hyundai Elantra with a defective license plate light.
Kristin Boisa-Taylor
During the equipment violation stop, Tudor determined that Ross was driving with a suspended license and was wanted on a Kings County felony arrest warrant on charges of rape, terrorist threats, and witness intimidation. Tudor then handcuffed Ross and arrested his passenger, Kristin Boisa-Taylor, 46, on a misdemeanor charge of illegal lodging. With both suspects in custody and seated in Tudor’s patrol car, the officer then conducted a probable cause search of Ross’ vehicle and discovered a virtual arsenal of firepower, including loaded handguns, rifles, shotguns, and “47 boxes of ammunition” Harwood reported.
Further investigation as to the origin of the weapons revealed that they had been stolen in a residential burglary in Caruthers, California, and that Ross is identified by authorities there as “a wanted parolee who was armed and dangerous.”
Officer Aaron Tudor (right) in December 2011
Ross was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on the Kings County felony warrant, possession of a loaded firearm in a vehicle, being a felon in possession of a firearm and being in possession of ammunition.
Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking; Santa Barbara Police
Read more:
Noozhawk: Santa Barbara Traffic Stop Leads to Arrest of Suspect Wanted in Burglary, Rape
Edhat: Firearms and Warrant Arrest
