Photo: arrest scene
January 6, 2022 – Santa Barbara County, Ca.
When the owner of a white Toyota 4Runner, riding as a passenger in another vehicle, spotted her SUV rolling down U.S. 101 on the afternoon of January 4 th , she knew something had to be amiss and promptly used her cellphone to dial 911 to report a stolen vehicle.
According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Raquel Zick, officers from the Goleta California Highway Patrol Station soon “located the vehicle and attempted to make a traffic stop.”
The female driver, however, “refused to yield” and promptly exited the freeway and careened into the parking lot of the Camino Real Marketplace retail shopping center. Once on the property, the 4Runner “parked behind businesses on the north side of the center.”
As deputies rolled to a stop nearby and approached the stolen vehicle, they discovered “it was empty” and promptly established a secure perimeter as they began looking for the driver. At that time, the shopping center’s always-busy Starbucks was “briefly evacuated” as deputies suspected the driver may have been “hiding in a restroom.”
Two hours later, “with the aid of a K-9 team and a county helicopter,” 31-year-old Angel Marie Ybarra was located hiding behind the nearby PetSmart store. She was taken into custody and transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where she was booked on charges of vehicle theft and on her outstanding felony no-bail warrant.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office
