SBPDPIO
Source: Santa Barbara Police Department
On April 13, 2022, around noon, the Santa Barbara Police Department received a report of a possible kidnapping and robbery that occurred in the area of Loma Alta Drive. The victim reported an unknown male had stolen her cellular phone and dragged her by her neck for approximately 100 yards. The victim described the area where this incident occurred, and told Officers it was near a transient campsite located on private property on the hillside of Loma Alta Drive.
The victim was able to capture several photos of the suspect after the suspect threw the phone back at her, and presented the photographs to Officers. One of the Officers immediately recognized the suspect as Andre Mark Thomas, a 31-year-old transient. Thomas had arrested on April 8, 2022, for two unrelated misdemeanor warrants. Thomas was in jail for approximately 4 days and was released just prior to this attack occurring.
Officers were able to establish probable cause to arrest Thomas and conducted an extensive search immediately after the incident, but were unsuccessful in locating him.
Later that evening, Officers returned to the area where Thomas’ campsite was located in an attempt to question him. On April 14, 2022, just after midnight, Officers located Thomas in the 400 block of Loma Alta Drive and arrested him for Felony Kidnapping and Robbery. He was booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail and is being held on $100,000 bail.
The victim suffered minor injuries during this robbery.
This guy has been arrested and released numerous times… What a great system- NOT!
I second the mugshot request! These people basically have to kill somebody to get arrested (smh) Scary times, stay safe out there. Glad the victim is okay.
This incident is a good reminder for everyone to think about how to protect themselves, their families, and their property. Here are a few suggestions. Keep your land well maintained. Clearing brush reduces fire danger and discourages drug addicts from camping. In addition, be sure to check your property regularly and do not allow any drug addicts to establish a camp. Also, since there is only so much you can do to protect your property it would be wise to get your insurance up to date to ensure you are protected against potential theft, vandalism, and fire. Remember, it costs a lot more to rebuild structures than they are worth so it’s important to have coverage that will pay the costs to rebuild. When driving, always be sure to leave room to maneuver when you have to stop in areas where drug addicts loiter like freeway off-ramps. Drug addicts can be dangerous and unpredictable, and leaving extra space to maneuver gives you the opportunity to escape if a drug addict becomes belligerent or attacks. Do not pull up too close to the car in front of you or you’ll be stuck. Finally, consider self defense classes and acquiring a firearm. Having a firearm provides the means to protect yourself and your family. Using a firearm should always be a last resort, but it is vital to have that option when all other options are exhausted. Unfortunately, there is no legal way to carry a firearm outside your property in our county. However, it looks like the Supreme Court is going to change that in the next couple of months. Concealed carry is a great way to protect yourself and is likely to be a legal option for law abiding residents in the near future. Finally, it might be worth giving some thought to moving. Now would be a great time to sell before interest rates go up further. Moving to a safer and cleaner community might be a good choice, particularly for those who have young children.
Newsome is responsible for the mess on our streets. Newsome is the head of state. The state runs the prison system. Newsome orders early release of prisons and jails and a draw down of those housed populations. These released prisoners are without services and they start building homeless encampments.
Newsome also orders that there be no enforcement against the homeless and their encampments. The encampments continue to grow and grow, fed by the steady early prison and jail releases. And so here were are, with parts of this state now ungovernable toxic waste dumps.
Who is this Newsome guy that all the cons keep mentioning?
Rowse isn’t a Republican and has zero control over the DA’s office and prison system. But don’t let facts get in the way of your anti-conservative everything to the right of left-of-center is bad, evil, dumb, greedy and/or racists.
VOICE – so the mayor had nothing to do with the allocation of police resources? Your obsession with politics clouds your ability to read the relevant facts in comments here.
Catch and release, I agree it should be mayors top priority but it starts with the governor and Newsome will never help locals. He signs these crazy laws and we suffer.
Schizophrenics are not commonly violent. They are mostly a risk to themselves.
Did you read his past charges? He has escalated this time. Hopefully he gets the help he needs before someone gets hurt even worse.
This issue is the left’s version of ‘Don’t Look Up.” The damage of the current approach is clear, immediate, and harming everyone involved (the folks we are trying to ‘help’ most of all). We are stuck in an ideological finger-trap.
I’m a leftie, although you may not believe it, so if you strongly disagree with me, please consider I’ve worked on progressive issues my entire life. My opinion is that most the ‘help’ coming from the left on this issue is a beautifully intentioned but severely misguided expression of care. Our homeless population isn’t just down on their luck folk who need a little hand up. They are largely folks with serious issues (drugs, mental illness) who NEED help but can’t or won’t or don’t know how to accept it. We have approaches that bind the freebies (food, clothes, healthcare, comforts) to participation in programs they need . When you give $10 to a drug addict on the street, or free food in a park where kids are supposed to be playing, you are actively undermining the efforts of the serious folks trying to solve the problem. You are taking away the only tool we have (accept for arresting them) to nudge folks toward the effective help they really need. If you say that’s paternalistic, I don’t know what world you’re living in where you think these folks couldn’t use a caring but stern parent.
Meanwhile, folks mock me on EdHat when I say it’s not safe for two kids to go to Pershing Park. If that’s you, I don’t know how much more evidence you need, or what tragedy you are waiting for. Don’t Look Up.
why is the Mayor catching heat for this? The local authorities are following the rules laid down by Sacramento. Research you picks on election day
LOL! The Mayor has NO POWER to do anything regarding prosecution of the whacked out drug addicts that walk around town with a free get out of jail card… Look to Hannah Beth Jackson, who did so much damage in Sacramento when she “represented” us… State representatives like Das Williams and others with insane “Bills” that our legislators (90%+ Democrats) pass to make California what it is today… Look at the once beautiful getaway towns of San Francisco and Santa Monica- Even Sacramento, our State Capitol is a mess of drug abusers and walking dead…. Our once “Golden State” is a tarnish mess, thanks to the misguided and misinformed voters of CA
Its cheaper and better for all to treat mental illness as an illness and care for the people who are sick as if they are sick… But not in America/SB. We’d rather pay outrageous salaries to lowly, ineffective bureaucrats, pony up billions in legal fees to a-hole lawyers, and “pretend” that the issue is getting better than actually offer care for the people who need help and solve the majority of issues before they become a problem…
Oh, you mean to say that another inmate was early released into our community and committed a crime against a person? That hasn’t happened in about a week or so. I thought things were starting to improve. Guess not. Status quo – hold the course, nothing wrong here….
A lot of common sense in the comment section today. Love it!
PITLOCAL and COAST- just an FYI, the 2 misdemeanors where driving with a suspended/revoked license and drunk in public. This is not like the other cases where they’ve released violent criminals back onto our streets. Can’t really keep people in jail for minor, non-violent offenses like that.
That said, there needs to be some sort of public outrage (outside of internet chats) to do something about the homeless camps. We’ve seen time and time again they’re a hotbed of criminal activity, yet are left alone without constant surveillance. Look at IV or Fiesta or any large gathering of people, there is a CONSTANT and heavy police presence. Why? Because they realize there’s the potential for crime and violence. Why then, are they not constantly patrolling the homeless camps? It’s not like they don’t know where they are. Homelessness in general is a complicated issue to deal with, but this is NOT. Focus resources on these camps and treat them with the same level of police presence as they would for any large gathering where drugs and alcohol are known to be consumed and violence is known to be common. Seems like an easy and practical solution. I know the far-left will object, but police presence in and of itself isn’t a violation of privacy or any human rights I can think of. Heck, people live in IV and the cops are always patrolling there! Do something!
Oh yeah, this isn’t on Rowse. Wake up, it’s on the state level democrats – our governor Gavin Newsome the kingpin elect, Hannah beth, etc go ahead someone else and list them for all us to see. They’ve decided to make serious, violent crimes almost unpublishable in California. We all saw it.
I’m not a raging republican, very far from it. I couldn’t care less about party, I’m just trying to remind some people of how the absurd leniency on criminal activities got started here in SB and throughout the state in the first place.
Thoughts?
BASIC – how is none of this on Rowse? When Murrillo was mayor, all people did here was bash her every time a homeless person committed a crime. Is there really NOTHING the mayor can do to increase patrols and scrutiny around these local homeless camps? On the same note, how is this Newsom’s fault? He’s not in charge of cleaning up our city.
Leniency on crime isn’t a factor here. This guy’s priors were driving without a license and drunk in public. Not like he should have still been in jail.
I think we need a plan to discuss this with the mayor and the board of supervisors. It’s gone on long enough. The transients are being incentivized to come here and now we are seeing these problems arise on a near weekly basis.
I’m not experienced in the political realm, are council meetings a good place to raise these concerns?
To specify, we don’t need or expect new sentencing laws from our local politicians. We need them to stop buying into programs that make it easier for these types of people to set up camp and thrive as non-functioning and potentially dangerous members of society. Let’s be honest, most of these people are here by choice and refusing help by choice.
Yes there are the 10-20% affected by non drug related mental health crisis but setting up the town as a honey pot for the homeless is no way to serve the citizens. No more housing for people who come here from other cities. Prioritize helping SB residents on their way down to the streets instead. We need stricter enforcement and relocation of encampments. Build a database with peoples faces whenever LEO comes across them. If they stay in the city after being told not to, arrest them.
I’m not big on relocating of anyone from anywhere but these people have got to go.
SBSTONER – exactly. That’s what’s so baffling though about some comments (from our well established conservatives) here saying our new, Republican, mayor is not to blame. How on earth does the leader of our City not have anything to do with local crime??
It is time to step it up and deal with these camps. Blaming Newsom and exonerating our mayor is misguided and purely out of spite. We need to stop the politics and work on the crime!