By F. Scott Faulkner
Santa Barbara County, CA —
Trouble for 20-year-old Santa Maria resident Angel Gabriel Lopez-Rojas began on
August 21, 2024 when Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department deputies responded
to an Orcutt Dollar Tree store pursuant to “a report of a suspect who grabbed the
buttocks of a 6-year-old girl.”
According to SBSD Pubic Information Officer Raquel Zick, when uniformed patrol
deputies rolled up to the reported scene, “the suspect had already left the area.”
As an investigation got under way, “a second and third report” of young girls being
groped at the same Dollar Tree store location came in to detectives on Sept.13,
2024. At that point the investigation intensified, leading detectives to identify Lopez-
Rojas as the prime suspect.
A warrant for his arrest was issued, and contact was made with Lopez-Rojas in the city
of Orcutt on September 19, whereupon he was taken into custody and arrested. He
was transported to Santa Barbara County Northern Branch Jail, where he was booked
on charges of “lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 and child annoying.” He
remains in custody on a no-bail hold.
According to Zick, detectives are asking anyone with additional information regarding
Lopez-Rojas or other related incidents to contact Detective Brownlee at 805-681-4150.
