Joshua Warren
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY — It’s a rare individual indeed who, while being the subject of aggressive and intense law enforcement interest, manages to avoid contact with those bearing arrest warrants.
According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, 42-year-old Lompoc resident Joshua Warren may be that unique person.
Jose Morales
Having recently served “a prison conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm,” Warren was being sought on an active arrest warrant for conduct allegedly outside the bounds of his Community Supervision.
With law enforcement considering Warren “potentially armed and dangerous,” despite the fact that Warren sports a remarkably entertaining set of facial tattoos that would clearly make him difficult to miss in any crowd, their efforts to locate him over the past year came to naught until the evening of April 19th.
It was early in the evening when, pursuant to the combined efforts of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department and County Probation Officers, the SBSD Compliance Response Team happened to spot Warren on a downtown Lompoc street.
With their eyes on Warren, detectives from the SBSD Special Investigations Bureau and the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s Office obtained a search warrant for Warren’s residence.
A short time later, the Special Enforcement Team was called in “based on Warren’s substantial criminal history” to serve the warrant on a West Apricot Street residence.
Minutes after announcing their arrival, deputies took Warren into custody “without incident,” whereupon he was transported to Santa Barbara County Jail for booking on charges of parole violation.
26-year-old Jose Morales was also found in the residence at the time of the warrant service, and was quickly determined to be wanted on a separate parole violation pursuant to his prison stay on charges of assault with a deadly weapon. Morales made the ride to Santa Barbara County Jail as well.
Photos:
Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
