Two Suspects Arrested in Goleta for Drugs and Weapons

By the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office

Sheriff’s Deputies have arrested a Goleta man and woman found in possession of an array of illegal drugs and two loaded firearms.

On Thursday, July 6, 2023, at approximately 1:32 a.m., a Goleta patrol deputy attempted a traffic stop of a vehicle for a headlamp violation in the area of N. Glen Annie Road and Cathedral Oaks Road. After initially failing to pull over, the driver eventually pulled over on San Milano Drive.

Deputies contacted the driver, 36-year-old Benicio Pereda, while the passenger, 36-year-old Marisol Loza attempted to flee towards a residence before she was quickly apprehended.

Deputies conducted a probation search of the vehicle and found ammunition, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, psilocybin, drug paraphernalia, and evidence of narcotics sales. A Sheriff’s K9 unit responded to the area to search the area where Loza ran from the vehicle and located a loaded a Ruger .357 revolver and a loaded Beretta .22 semi-auto handgun.

Both suspects were arrested for felon in possession of ammunition (felony), possession of a controlled substance for sales (felony), transportation of a controlled substance (felony), felon in possession of a firearm (felony), felon in possession of a loaded firearm (felony), and possession of a controlled substance while armed with a loaded firearm (felony).

Pereda was booked on the additional charge of failure to yield to a traffic stop (misdemeanor) and is being held without bail on a probation violation. Loza was booked on the additional charges of obstruction (misdemeanor) and concealing evidence (misdemeanor). She is being held on $50,000 bail.

sbsheriff

Written by sbsheriff

Press releases written by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office

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11 Comments

  1. I don’t know if “some people belong in jail” or not but I am sure glad “some people get arrested”.
    No one needs to be driving around with loaded weapons like this.
    A felon, on probation, in possession of loaded guns/drugs, driving around, fleeing police …
    An 18 yr old nerd illegally hacking a friends computer …
    A beautiful girl illegally spying on her ex ….
    Yeah- where is the fairness in determining the difference in jail time?
    The victims of the latter two situations may have suffered permanent harm while the felon scenario only resulted in the arrest.
    It’s not about jail time.
    It’s not about laws against guns or for possession of them either.
    We need to get one thing straight – AS LONG AS THE MATERIALS WHICH GUNS ARE MANUFACTURED FROM EXIST IN THIS WORLD , THIS WORLD WILL NEVER BE GUN FREE.
    The sooner everyone stops pretending otherwise – the sooner we can work on finding a way to prevent as much gun violence as possible.
    There are many ways this can be done and it seems to me that attacking an issue at many angles would be much more effective than trying to shoot it down with
    “Oh all we need are tougher gun laws (anti gun rights)- or if we would just crack down harder on violations of the gun laws we already have”. Those two if only safe never going to hit the mark because relember people –
    AS LONG AS THE MATERIALS THAT GUNS ARE MANUFACTURED FROM EXIST IN THIS WORLD, THIS WORLD WILL NEVER BE GUN FREE.

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