Santa Barbara – Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, in an effort to clarify an August 23rd report detailing the arrest and “positive” identification that day of “22-year-old Daniel Ricketts of Ventura” on charges of auto burglary, the following day described Mr. Ricketts as being “deceased.” The suspect in custody was correctly identified via a Livescan fingerprinting process at Santa Barbara County Jail on August 24th as one Timothy Rodriguez, the 25-year-old brother of the late Mr. Ricketts.
Rodriguez, according to Hoover, had been spotted by passersby as he was breaking into parked cars along Montecito’s high-profile Coast Village Road commercial thoroughfare in the pre-dawn hours of the 23rd. When he realized he had been observed, Rodriguez took flight on foot. With law enforcement summoned by witnesses, minutes later officers of the Santa Barbara Police Department and Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department deputies were on the scene. Rodriguez was spotted by the cops walking down the sidewalk, and when hailed by law enforcement took off running.
A brief foot pursuit ensued, during which both a police sergeant and Rodriguez sustained minor injuries. Once subdued and taken into custody, Rodriguez was transported to Santa Barbara County Jail where he was booked on multiple charges of auto burglary. During the booking process, “Rodriguez likely provided his family member’s information in an attempt to conceal a misdemeanor warrant out of Ventura County,” Hoover commented.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
