Jose Villareal and Raquel Lopez
Santa Barbara County – When romance goes awry, the results are often unpredictable and rarely work out to the benefit of those involved.
Certainly the events transpiring on the afternoon of April 12th in the northern county city of Orcutt support the same verity as dramatized in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream when he wrote “the course of true love never did run smooth.”
According to Kelly Hoover, Public Information Officer at the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, it was a “family disturbance” call that brought SBSD deputies from the Santa Maria Substation to a home where they made contact with 31-year-old Jose Villareal and his girlfriend, 29-year-old Raquel Lopez, a young lady with her fair share of aliases and an outstanding $60,000 felony warrant for assault with a deadly weapon.
As Lopez was taken into custody and being trundled off for the ride to Santa Barbara County Jail, Villareal likely had second thoughts about joining his paramour and promptly barricaded himself in a bedroom of the residence, where he was “reportedly armed with a replica BB pistol and a samurai sword.”
Perhaps not eager to test the traditional samurai metallurgy, deputies issued a reverse 911 call to local residents and began a conversation with Villareal about the wisdom of his situation.
While Villareal was speaking with deputies through a locked and barricaded doorway, law enforcement support elements arriving on the scene included units of the Santa Barbara Fire Department, ambulance paramedics, a Santa Barbara County Air Support Unit helicopter, and an eager K-9 team.
Undoubtedly assessing the likely outcome of any further resistance on his part, an hour later Villareal “surrendered without further incident,” whereupon he was taken into custody and transported to Santa Barbara County Jail to be charged with two $60,000 felony warrants relating to a charge of assault with a deadly weapon, being a convicted felon in possession of ammunition, and possession of an explosive device.
Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
