Francisco Guzman, Ignacio Reyes and Javier Rorriguez-Anguiano
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY — Isla Vista, the gloriously laid-back college community mere steps away from the picturesque campus of UCSB, has its fair share of law enforcement activity throughout the school year simply as a product of Halloween and Spring Break undergraduate rowdiness.
Aside from the occasional random act of mass violence making national headlines and spurring politicians into apoplectic legislative reactions, rarely, do the citizens of I.V. deal with the threat of seriously violent street crime.
Juan Arrendondo
An exception to that pattern occurred in the minutes just after midnight on May 28th, when Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department deputies assigned to Isla Vista Foot Patrol encountered a 28-year-old male who reported he’d just been the victim of an assault and robbery.
As the victim was on his way to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital for treatment to injuries sustained in the attack, University of California Police Department officers and SBSD deputies, assisted by a Sheriff’s K-9 unit, fanned out in an aggressive search for Ignacio Reyes, a 22-year-old Lompoc resident, whom they identified as their suspect.
A short time later, three Lompoc residents, Javier Rodriguez-Anguiano, 21, Francisco Guzman, 21, and Juan Garibay Arrendondo, 20, were contacted and detained and questioned, but Reyes was not with the three. During the ensuing investigation, Reyes was tracked down by the K-9 unit and taken into custody at gunpoint.
According to SBSD Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, just an hour later, the deputies found themselves responding to a reported stabbing in the area.
That victim, immediately prior to being transported to the hospital for treatment, described “three male suspects” fitting the descriptions of Rodriguez-Anguiano, Guzman, and Garibay.
All three, who were still in the area at 2:30 a.m., were once again contacted and “detained at gunpoint.” Investigation quickly linked them to both assaults, whereupon they were transported to Santa Barbara County Jail and were booked on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and armed robbery.
Investigation into both incidents continues; persons with any knowledge of these events are urged to contact SBSD detectives at 805-683-2724.
Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
