Photo: Ruben Jesse Gomez and Javier Castillo Vasquez
Santa Barbara County – In the pre-dawn hours of January 12th, a 65-year-old Lompoc man answered his doorbell. The person on the front porch of the home announced himself as a Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department deputy and indicated that he urgently needed to speak to the homeowner.
According to SBSD Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, the victim opened his front door and was immediately “attacked multiple times with a pistol” and a blunt instrument resembling a “nightstick.” The helpless victim made efforts to defend himself but was “overwhelmed” by his assailant and forced back into his house.
Once inside the victim’s bedroom, the suspect threatened the man’s family and demanded “money and guns.” With no option other than to comply, the victim gave his assailant all the money he had in his pants pockets, whereupon his hands were “bound behind his back with duct tape.”
Obviously fearing worse was to come, the victim managed to free himself and strike the suspect with a baseball bat. Apparently he didn’t swing the bat hard enough, as the assailant “took the bat from the victim” and proceeded to beat him with it.
The victim was left alive and was ultimately transported to the hospital with a fractured skull and multiple facial lacerations. Over the course of the ensuing five days, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department detectives, working closely with deputies assigned to the Santa Maria Police Department, identified Santa Maria residents 38-year-old Ruben Jesse Gomez and 38-year-old Javier Castillo Vasquez as the offenders.
Detectives served search and arrest warrants on Gomez and Vasquez early on the morning of January 19th and took both men into custody without incident. Both were transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where they were booked on charges of attempted murder, robbery of an inhabited dwelling, elder abuse, and kidnapping. Each suspect is currently held in custody with his bail set at $1,000,000.
Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking.
