Photo: Chavez Hernandez
July 29, 2020 – Santa Barbara County, Ca.
A 911 call to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Emergency Dispatch Center the morning of July 26th reported what SBSD Public Information Officer Raquel Zick described as “a man with a gun at a hotel.”
Deputies promptly responded to a hotel in the City of Goleta and made contact with a male and
female who were “attempting to flee on foot.” 43-year-old Pico Rivera resident Kelly Espinoza
and 20-year-old Covina, Ca. resident Chavez Hernandez were detained. Subsequent
investigation at the scene lead deputies to determine that Hernandez and Espinoza were in
possession of a “replica Glock pellet gun and luggage.”
Kelly Espinoza
Deputies then contacted the reporting party and learned that Hernandez and Espinoza had “followed the victim to his hotel room and demanded the keys to his vehicle.” When the victim
refused to surrender his car keys, Hernandez “battered him with the replica firearm.”
At that point, the victim escaped from the hotel room and ran into the hotel parking lot. Witnesses
summoned law enforcement at that time.
As deputies examined the victim’s hotel room, they found “property left behind by the suspects indicating that this crime was planned.”
Hernandez and Espinoza were transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where they were booked on charges of false imprisonment, burglary, conspiracy, and first-degree felony robbery.
They remain in custody with bail set at $50,000 each.
Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
