Citizen Tip Leads to Arrest of Fugitive
updated: Jun 27, 2012, 8:07 PM

By SB CO SHERIFF

A suspected con artist wanted in Santa Barbara County and Northern California is in the Los Angeles County Jail after a citizen tip led to his arrest in Universal City.

In March of this year, the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office released information on fugitive Jerrell Yearego, who was wanted on a felony warrant out of both Santa Barbara and Santa Clara Counties. Both warrants together total $300,000 for various violations related to fraud and false impersonation of another. Yearego is also currently under investigation by the California Department of Consumer Affairs.

Since then, the SBSO Felony Fugitive Unit has received several tips from the public. These tips indicated that Yearego was, at one point, staying in Las Vegas at the Bellagio Hotel. Yearego managed to elude arrest during his time in Las Vegas. At one point information was received that Yearego was contemplating leaving the state to escape arrest. These tips were followed up on but Yearego seemingly always eluded law enforcement.

Today (June 27, 2012), the SBSO received an anonymous tip from a caller who stated they saw Yearego's information on the Sheriff's "Top Ten Active Warrants" webpage. The caller indicated Yearego was currently staying in a room at the Universal City Hilton, and frequented the hotel bar on a regular basis.

A Sheriff's detective contacted the Los Angeles Sheriff's Universal City Substation, which responded to the hotel and arrested Yearego in his room. Yearego was booked into the Los Angeles County Jail on his two outstanding warrants and is awaiting transportation back to Santa Barbara County.

The SBSO wants to thank the public for the tips submitted regarding Yearego's whereabouts. It was the public's help that ultimately led to Yearego's capture today. For information on other outstanding wanted person's visit the Santa Barbara Sheriff's webpage at the following link: Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office - Active Warrants.

# # # #

4 comments on this article. Read/Add

# # # #