Thief Arrested after Foot Pursuit
updated: Feb 25, 2013, 7:29 PM

Source: SBPD

Eduardo Lazaro Murillo, age 20, of Santa Barbara, was arrested for possession of stolen property and other charges after a citizen walking home from work observed Murillo tampering with vehicles parked on Santa Barbara's Westside and called 9-1-1.

On February 25, 2013 at 12:37 a.m., SBPD Officers Eric Rosenberg, Brian Sathre, Bryn Bruce, and Kody Cardana responded to a call of a suspicious subject attempting to open car doors in the vicinity of San Andres Street and Pedregosa Street. Upon arrival Officer Cardana was flagged down by the reporting party who indicated that Murillo was hiding behind a nearby parked car. When Officer Cardana attempted to contact Murillo he fled on foot, first westbound and then eastbound on 700 W. Pedregosa Street. Murillo tripped and fell to the ground at the intersection of San Andres Street and Pedregosa Street and was taken into custody by Officer Cardana and Officer Sathre.

Murillo was searched incident to arrest and found to be in possession of a meth pipe that contained a usable quantity of methamphetamine. Murillo was also in possession of a gym bag that contained a variety of items that the officers suspected were stolen. Investigation revealed that Murillo attempted to open the doors to numerous vehicles parked on the street and in private driveways on San Andres Street and on the 600 and 700 blocks of W. Pedregosa Street. He admitted that he had stolen the items in his possession from parked cars. The reporting party affected a citizen's arrest of Murillo for the crimes of prowling and vehicle tampering, which was necessary as these were misdemeanor offenses that did not occur in the presence of the responding officers. Officer Rosenberg arrested Murillo for possession of methamphetamine, a felony, and possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of stolen property, both misdemeanors. Investigation to determine the identity of the owners of the stolen property is ongoing.

Murillo was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on the aforementioned charges with a bail amount of $25,000.00. Photograph provided by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office.

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MUG SHOT GALLERY

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 378685P	2013-02-25 08:31 PM
Eddie 'Lazaro'. In another language 'Lazaro' means "lazy. ".
COMMENT 378687	2013-02-25 08:35 PM
He'll be out in a week , doin meth and stealing once again.
COMMENT 378705P	2013-02-25 11:26 PM
This is sad. Just really sad. What a waste of a life.
COMMENT 378713	2013-02-26 06:12 AM
If looks could kill.
ROGER DODGER	2013-02-26 07:15 AM
Tripped and fell lol..
COMMENT 378744	2013-02-26 07:48 AM
8685... no it does not. You may infer it to mean that but it doesn't.
COMMENT 378759	2013-02-26 08:21 AM
How many more of these guys are out there still?
COMMENT 378797	2013-02-26 09:28 AM
Some punk broke into my car and stole my iPod. Cost me a TON of money and time to replace it. Music lists that took forever to make and were very meaningful to me. I hope they prosecute him to the fullest.
COMMENT 378801	2013-02-26 09:42 AM
So will he be charged with the actual stealing, or just possession of stolen property? I've had an ipod stolen in the past too, and the police treated me like an idiot. Maybe i should just steal one back, lol. Not like the cops will do more than slap me on the wrist.
COMMENT 378815	2013-02-26 10:02 AM
I am hoping the cops go search this fools house.
COMMENT 378830	2013-02-26 10:50 AM
Take a good look. This is our lost generation that is going to bedevil us for years until they are finally locked up for good and we have to pay for their incarceration at $50K/yr per inmate. If someone knows how to make these kids productive members of our society, I wish they would get started. If we even had jobs for kids without college degrees, would they want to work?
COMMENT 378845	2013-02-26 11:21 AM
Not all kids without college degrees are delinquents or whatever; it has nothing to do with not wanting to work. Terrible generalization.
COMMENT 378898	2013-02-26 01:40 PM
Seems like they weren't generalizing, just saying that probably this guy and some of his peers probably don't have college degrees and that it is hard to find a living wage job in general, especially if you don't have a degree. Certainly there are plenty of high school graduates working for minimum wage and not stealing stuff from cars. But the temptation to be a criminal probably rises if you weren't a good student and can't find a decent job. Plus once you have a record, what are the chance of getting decent wage then? What is the answer to this problem?
COMMENT 378903	2013-02-26 01:48 PM
If he could reverse his mustache and his eyebrows he would look better! LOL
COMMENT 378906	2013-02-26 01:51 PM
I tried to picture this guy in his 2nd grade class photo: how he looked then as a little boy. Was he born with hatred in his eyes? I guess there are cases where people are just born mean-spirited and anti social. And while I have great disdain for these gangster/ crime loving guys, I still have to remember that they probably came from an abusive or neglectful home, where there was no love or support. Maybe he did have all the love etc but the gangs pressured him to join. I don't know but man, I just don't see an easy solution in sight. I don't want our town to get overrun by these thugs!!!

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