A state prison parolee has been arrested in connection with a string of recent commercial burglaries in the city of Santa Barbara.
Brian Christopher Schotz, 44, was taken into custody on May 22, and has been linked to 10 recent retail burglaries, according to Santa Barbara Police Department spokesman Anthony Wagner .
Schotz had been released from state prison in late April after serving time for several commercial burglaries in the city, Wagner said.
“Detectives established a pattern of criminal activity that pointed to Schotz as the culprit in a string of recent commercial burglaries,” Wagner said. “Police were on the lookout for Schotz, who was outstanding, when an array of burglary-related calls for service were placed into dispatch on the morning of Wednesday, May 22.”
At approximately 3:40 a.m. that day, officers responded to an alarm call on the 300 block of West Carrillo Street, where they found an empty storefront that had been burglarized. Less than an hour later, another alarm call was received from a business on the first block of Anacapa Street.
In both cases, the businesses and surrounding areas were searched, but no suspect was located, Wagner said.
“While officers were investigating the incident on Anacapa Street, dispatch received a call from the owner of a business located on the 200 block of South Milpas Street,” Wagner said. “That person reported a burglary in-progress via a remote live-feed camera posted in his business.”
The owner worked with dispatch to direct officers to the person inside his business, where Schotz was arrested.
Schotz was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on suspicion of the four commercial burglaries that occurred on May 22, and subsequently was booked on six additional charges related to burglaries that had occurred since his release from prison, Wagner said.
Schotz was arraigned May 24 in Superior Court in Santa Barbara on 18 felony and five misdemeanor charges, and is scheduled to return to court on June 24 for a preliminary hearing setting.
Schotz was being held at County Jail with bail on Wednesday.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.