Mugshot of Daniel Pulido.
Santa Barbara – When the initial report of an armed robbery taking place at a Goleta CVS Pharmacy went out to Santa Barbara County 911 Emergency, responding deputies found a machete and additional evidence of the crime…but no suspect anywhere to be seen. The investigation at the scene indicated that a man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt had jumped over the store’s pharmacy counter, threatened the clerk with a machete, and then absconded with an undisclosed amount of prescription medications.
According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover immediately following the reported crime, “a K-9 unit responded to the scene,” but could not locate the suspect. It only took detectives three hours to conduct their investigation, during which witness reports detailed the suspect’s actions immediately following the crime, even providing the license plate number of the black Ford Mustang getaway car. The vehicle was tracked to the 4800 block of Ashton Road. Located at the scene were “the machete and three bottles of codeine cough syrup,” all gathered as evidence.
With the vehicle description running through law enforcement databases, David Pulido was identified as the driver of the Mustang, while his brother Daniel Pulido, 24, was positively identified as the perpetrator of the armed robbery. Pursuant to that information, Daniel Pulido was contacted at his residence on the 5200 block of Calle Morelia and was taken into custody on December 11.
He was transported to Santa Barbara County Jail and booked on charges of robbery with the use of a deadly weapon, with his bail set at $120,000. According to Hoover, the Santa Barbara county District Attorney’s Office is considering to charge Daniel’s bother, David, as “an accessory to the robbery.”
