Five men were arrested Saturday in an alleged Isla Vista home-invasion robbery that yielded cash, drugs and electronics, authorities said.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Drew Sugars said the five suspects arrived at a residence in the 6700 block of Trigo Road just before 2 p.m. Saturday. While two of the men waited in their car, he said, three others forced their way into the residence and confronted at least six people.
Sugars said two of the suspects were armed with knives, while the third had a realistic-looking, plastic Beretta handgun that he used to pistol-whip two of the victims. The suspects fled the scene after taking cash, jars of marijuana, smoking paraphernalia, cell phones and a laptop computer, Sugars said.
After a description of the suspects and their vehicle was relayed to law enforcement, a sheriff’s deputy soon observed the car driving eastbound on Highway 101 in Montecito.
Colin Joseph Campbell, 18, of Oxnard; Darren Vondell Gales, 18, of Camarillo; Eric Cameron Stewart, 22, of Compton; Jaylen Julian Stewart, 19, of Oxnard; and Miguel Valencia, 20, of Los Angeles, were booked into the County Jail on $100,000 bail for felony armed robbery and criminal conspiracy.
— Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen can be reached at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.