Andrew Navarro and David Tinoco
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY — As if Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department personnel weren’t busy enough preventing crime, apprehending those actively perpetrating crime, and chasing those who will apparently try anything to avoid arrest, detectives working out of the Special Investigations Bureau and the Compliance Response Team are also tasked with enforcing probation terms throughout a population of convicted felons.
It was during the hunt for Rudy Ramos—recently captured after he evaded arrest for nearly two full weeks—that several of his known associates appeared on law enforcement radar.
Lawrence Ramos
According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, the SBSD brought in help from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as well as personnel from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to lend a hand in the apprehension of a half-dozen violators.
It was late in the morning of May 11th when 29-year-old Santa Maria resident Lawrence Ramos was observed behind the wheel of a stolen car. Knowing that Ramos “had three warrants issued for his arrest,” Ramos was pulled over and taken into custody without any further ado.
He was found to be in possession of brass knuckles and then transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was booked on his warrants, “which included one with a $150,000 bail.”
That same afternoon, SBSD Detectives and CDCR Parole Agents found parole and probation violators David Tinoco, 28, Andres Navarro, 24, Gloria Lawag, 21, Alana Austria, 36, and Gabriel Fuentes, 36—all residents of Santa Maria—at a house in Pismo Beach and took them all into custody without incident.
Fuentes was transported to San Luis Obispo County Jail; the others were all given a free ride to Santa Barbara County Jail, where they remain in custody and are presumably looking for their Pal Rudy Ramos to thank him for bringing down the heat.
Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
