Photo: Dustin Kinsey and Andrea Reyes
Santa Barbara County – Despite the many public announcements warning of increased property crimes during the holiday, many citizens continue to become victims of what Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover describes as “crimes of opportunity.”
Evidence of that came with the Christmas Eve arrests of Santa Maria residents Andrea Reyes, 34, and Dustin Kinsey, 40. Their contact with law enforcement followed a two-week long investigation into a December 17th theft from a vehicle that quickly led to “numerous fraudulent transactions using the victim’s credit and debit cards.”
Those transactions occurred under the watchful eye of retailers’ video surveillance systems. Several video sources recorded a vehicle and images leading to the identifications of Reyes and Kinsey as the likely suspects. Reyes was contacted by deputies on the evening of December 24th. She was found in possession of more than 1000 items of stolen property, including “US mail and parcels, purses, bags, makeup, and a variety of newly bought store merchandise.”
Reyes was transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where she was booked on charges of false impersonation, identity theft, credit card fraud, receiving stolen property, conspiracy, destroying evidence, possession of burglar tools, possession of narcotics, mail theft, grand theft, vehicle burglary, and commercial burglary, with her bail set at $50,000.
During the course of their investigation into Reyes’ holiday crime spree, detectives learned the identity and whereabouts of Kinsey. He was contacted on December 26th, taken into custody, and arrested. He was transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was booked on charges of possession of stolen property, committing a felony while on bail, and possession of drug paraphernalia, with his bail set at $20,000.
Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
