Santa Barbara County – What may have been an indication that someone was going on an early and seriously illegal Holiday shopping spree, in the last week of November, Santa Barbara County Sheriffs discovered a bag full of mail entrusted to the care and delivery of the United States Postal Service in a Buellton motel room.
According to Santa Barbara county Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, deputies had been summoned to the motel “to investigate the disappearance of two flat screen televisions, two media charging stations, two alarm clocks, a microwave and two baskets” from the premises. With all of that missing, there was something left behind: a large sack of mail apparently stolen from numerous private residence addresses in the Lompoc and Buellton area.
Ashley Barnett
It didn’t take deputies long to learn that the room from which the electronics had been removed had been occupied by Sireena Dominguez and Ashley Barnett, a pair of 25-year old Santa Maria residents who had previously had such an exciting week that they now were wanted as suspects in a rash of other crimes in the northern part of Santa Barbara County.
With a viable description of the Ford pickup truck the women were driving, deputies tracked the women to a ranch outside of Cuyama, where they were contacted and summarily arrested.
Both women were transported to Santa Barbara County Jail where Dominguez was booked on multiple charges including forgery, with her bail set at $25,000. Barnett was booked on charges of criminal conspiracy connected to running a mail theft operation, with her bail set at $100,000.
Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
Read more:
Independent: Suspected mail thieves apprehended
Santa Ynez Valley News: Dominguez, Barnett
