Abraham Joseph Gutierrez
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY — Proving once again the serious nature of probation was the December 12th arrest of 39-year-old Guadalupe resident Abraham Joseph Gutierrez, now held in custody without bail.
Considering the report of Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, Gutierrez may have not fully appreciated the significance of his probation terms attached to an earlier arrest for “resisting a peace officer by means of force or threat, identity theft, and vehicle theft” when he took the opportunity to drive a stolen Ford Ranger through the streets of Santa Maria at 2:00 a.m. on the 12th.
Not only was he out cruising around in a stolen vehicle at that hour, but he committed “a moving violation” which gave a sheriff’s patrol unit sufficient cause to conduct a traffic stop.
Upon contacting Gutierrez, deputies quickly determined that the Ranger was stolen, “as was the license plate,” and that a set of tires and wheels in the truck bed were also stolen from a Santa Maria location earlier the same day. In addition to the set of tires and wheels, “a floor jack and suspected stolen tractor batteries” were also located in the vehicle.
Gutierrez was also determined to have been driving the stolen truck without benefit of a valid driver’s license, sufficient in itself for an arrest under terms of probation.
He was transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was booked for possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of stolen property, driving without a valid driver’s license, and probation violation. He remains at Santa Barbara County Jail without bail.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
