Santa Barbara County – It’s not often that the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s make a public request for help in locating a suspect who has slipped through their fingers, but just such an outreach was made last week in the case of Matt Crandall, 44.
According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, Crandall is a wanted fugitive pursuant to ongoing efforts of the SBSD Compliance Response Team efforts to enforce the terms of Crandall’s Post Release Community Supervision. It all came to a head on Wednesday, October 14th, when “suspicious activity” taking place at a local Santa Maria residential address was reported to Santa Maria Police Department detectives.
Sabrina Ceglia and Travis Grant
When officers arrived at the reported scene, a trio of individuals were observed, one of whom was Crandall, and who summarily took off on foot when he spotted law enforcement approaching. Crandall left behind two cohorts, Sabrina Ceglia, 35, and Travis Grant, 32, both Santa Maria residents who were detained by the officers. An investigation into the activities of the trio quickly ensued, and it was discovered that they were in possession of “a stolen truck which belonged to Habitat for Humanity,” and which had been reported missing the prior day in Goleta, just north of Santa Barbara’s city limits. An inspection of the truck revealed “numerous stolen items from an area business,” Hoover reported.
Both Ceglia and Grant were arrested and the scene and subsequently transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where they were booked on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of stolen property, burglary, and being under the influence of a controlled substance.
Matt Crandall remains at large, with SBSD detectives asking anyone with information regarding his whereabouts to leave an anonymous tip at (805) 681-4171.
Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department.
