Photo: Abraham Morales
SANTA BARBARA – The SBSD announced five arrests resulting from a meth bust recently.
Repeated citizen complaints of suspicious activity came in concerning a home just yards away from the campus of Santa Barbara High School. Consequently, this initiated a surveillance effort by SBPD Narcotics Detectives on the evening of June 26th.
That surveillance led to the issuance of a search warrant. Cops attempted to serve it on a suspect pickup truck in a traffic stop later that night. When detectives tried to pull the truck over, 58-year-old Abraham Morales “abruptly fled (Riley Harwood).” Then the chase was on.
Just a few blocks away, Morales lost control of the pickup truck and “collided with a parked tow truck.” At that point, local area patrol officers and the pursuing detectives established a secure “vicinity perimeter.” Morales’ two passengers, 44-year-old Elizabeth Chavez and 31-year-old Enrique Moran stepped out of the truck and into the arms of the law.
Morales didn’t surrender so easily. Detectives later discovered him hiding in a nearby apartment building breezeway and promptly took him into custody.
The subsequent search of the pickup truck revealed one ounce of heroin and “approximately a half-pound of methamphetamine. (These drugs) have a street value of $10,000.”
By 8:00 a.m. the following morning, a search of the residence under surveillance led to the arrest of 26-year-old Amanda Perez. Her charge is possession of 1.5 ounces of methamphetamine and 2.3 grams of heroin. Officers arrested 48-year-old Lisa Ybarra on charges of violating her felony probation terms.
For his part, Morales rode to Santa Barbara County Jail with charges of –
- transportation of methamphetamine and heroin;
- criminal conspiracy;
- assault on an officer;
- felony evading.
Chavez was booked for transportation of methamphetamine and heroin, and for criminal conspiracy. Moran was booked for possession of methamphetamine and on his felony probation warrant, while Perez was booked on a charge of possessing controlled substances.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
