Anonymous
Investigation Continues to Identify and Locate Additional Suspects
At approximately 3:40 a.m. this morning, October 31, 2018, Sheriff’s deputies were alerted to suspicious activity at the Rite Aid pharmacy located in the 600 block of Alamo Pintado in Solvang. When deputies arrived, they found obvious signs of a burglary. A dark colored Lexus sedan associated with the burglary was located by Sheriff’s deputies on Highway 101 heading northbound near Buellton before making a u-turn and heading southbound.
Deputies attempted to conduct a traffic stop but the suspect refused to yield. Deputies and California Highway Patrol Officers pursued the vehicle down the Nojoqui Grade but discontinued the pursuit when speeds accelerated due to public safety concerns. A Santa Barbara County Sheriff/Fire Air Support helicopter continued to track the vehicle and with the help of Santa Barbara County Public Safety Dispatchers provided critical information regarding the vehicle’s location to deputies and officers on the ground.
CHP Officers in Goleta located the vehicle headed southbound on Highway 101 and pursued it until it exited in the City of Santa Barbara. At approximately 4:30 a.m. the vehicle was located by a Santa Barbara Police Officer in the 1000 block of Santa Barbara Street and the suspect was found in the area near where the vehicle was located. The suspect matched the description of one of the suspects observed in surveillance video at Rite Aid and was found with the keys to the vehicle in his pocket. The suspect was identified as being 26-year-old Trenell Roshean Steel of Carson, California. He is being held at the Santa Barbara County Jail on $75,000 bail.
A search of the vehicle revealed a large amount of stolen prescription medication from Rite Aid.
The Sheriff’s Office is investigating the case to determine who else was involved in this crime.
If you have any information regarding this case, you are asked to please call the Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division at 805-681-4150. To leave an anonymous tip, please call 805-681-4171 or go to our website at https://www.sbsheriff.org/home/anonymous-tip/.
By EastBeach
Below is an image I made of the SB County helicopter circling over downtown while the search for the burglar(s) of the Solvang Rite Aid was in progress.
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Does anyone know what’s up with the helicopter doing circles above SB High area?
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What happened? Helicopter over downtown SB for an hour, starting at 5AM??
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Does anyone know why a helicopter has been circling Laguna area since 4:45? I’ve called the police. Doesn’t appear to be searching for a criminal or wildfire assistance.
DPJ, be respectful. It’s not “every siren & flashing light”. It’s a loud helicopter circling the neighborhood for an hour in the middle of the night. People can sometimes be WAY too concerned over nothing, but that’s not the case with the post you responded to.
I guess maybe it could have been the hospital maybe someone was waiting to land there was some police business on the West Side but that was later on in the morning and I don’t think they want me to say anything about that they would have by now…Maybe they will later on it wasn’t a danger to the public just police business…
“Forgive me but since when is police business part of the collective everyone should be privy to?”
Wow, that is one scary thing to read. “Why do we need to know what those people who we pay to protect us are doing? Why on earth shouldn’t we just let the police operate behind a curtain, and realize that what they’re doing is none of our business?”
Wake up and realize your constitutional rights!
I write here what I choose to write if I think some one might be in danger, a cover might be blown, or someones privacy might be violated I don’t write it up…I stay away from undercover operations too most of those never make it over the scanner….The police don’t tell me what to write they don’t have to.
If the police told everyone everything they did they would be out of a job.
Kept me awake from 4:45 to 5:45, then there was a short period of sirens on the ground, then all quiet. Very annoying!!
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
Does anyone else think the SBPD should publish these incident reports immediately after they occur? A helicopter over a residential neighborhood in the dark is not the safest thing and we deserve to be informed as to what is happening in our town and neighborhoods. The SPFD publishes all of their calls on Pulsepoint so you always know if it is a medical emergency or a dangerous fire. The fact that we need to huddle around this site, scrounging for bits of hearsay is ridiculous.