Weekend Crime Blotter

The Santa Barbara Police Department, reports spokesperson Lt. Paul McCaffrey, was kept busy last weekend, responding to hundreds of service calls. In a statement to the media, he highlights “some of the more noteworthy cases.”

At 10:36 p.m. on June 8, an officer was called to investigate a possible theft in the 1300 block of Euclid Avenue. According to the victim’s statement, she had invited her friend, 44-year-old Magdalena Rangel, to hang out. During the visit, the victim briefly left to check her laundry downstairs, leaving Rangel alone in the home. After staying a little while longer, Rangel left, but the victim soon discovered that $4,000 worth of her gold jewelry was missing. During his search of Rangel’s residence, the officer recovered some of the jewelry, but the victim said it was only a fraction of what she owned. Rangel was booked for grand theft.

At 7:55 p.m. on June 11, officers were dispatched to a stabbing near State and Gutierrez Streets. They located a 26-year-old man named Marcus Steward – who had several small stab wounds to his abdomen, wrist, and thigh – and a female friend. They told the officers they were homeless and arrived in town five days earlier, and explained at first that a man attacked them for no reason. Upon further questioning, however, the two said they met a man panhandling on State Street, talked about marijuana, and walked to the pedestrian overcrossing at lower State Street. Steward “gave a vague and ever-changing account about being stabbed by the other man,” said McCaffrey, and officers eventually tracked down the other man, 41-year-old William Foley. He confirmed he met Steward and the woman and offered to share some of his weed. When Steward saw the baggie, though, he claimed it was his and that he recently lost it. Steward then reportedly began beating Foley so mercilessly that Foley stabbed him several times in self defense. When officers contacted Foley, he appeared so injured that they ordered him a CAT-scan. Steward was treated at Cottage Hospital and police booked him for felony battery.

At around 2 a.m. on June 12, a Domino’s delivery man was robbed by four Hispanic males. According to the report, he was parked at 600 Bath street to make a delivery when he was confronted by the group. Two of the men were carrying a knife and a club. They demanded cash, but since the victim didn’t have any on him, they took three large pizzas and his cell phone.