A Santa Barbara woman suspected of shoplifting was arrested this week after foot patrol officers recovered items from several downtown businesses, according to the Santa Barbara Police Department.
At 3 p.m. Friday, Santa Barbara police foot patrol officers responded to a sporting goods store in the “first block of State Street,” Lt. Kenneth Kushner said.
“The employee had initially called to report that they believed a person who shoplifted items from the store was selling those items on the Internet,” Kushner said. “Just prior to the officers’ response, the sporting goods store employee called back to report that the same suspect believed to be selling the stolen merchandise online had returned to the store.”
Santa Barbara police arrested Amber Manzo, 21, on suspicion of four separate counts of shoplifting and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Police officers investigating the incident determined that Manzo had stolen items in her possession from the sporting goods store located in the downtown area.
Manzo’s vehicle was parked nearby, Kushner said, adding that her vehicle was searched by Santa Barbara police.
Earlier on Friday, Kushner said, Santa Barbara police officers working on foot along the downtown promenade responded to a report of a purse being stolen from a “high-end designer store” in the 800 block of State Street.
“As the officers searched Manzo’s vehicle, they located this stolen purse,” Kushner said. “Additional stolen items were located in Manzo’s vehicle from two separate downtown stores.”
Santa Barbara police reportedly recovered stolen property from four downtown businesses, according to Kushner.
“All of the stolen property was returned undamaged to the businesses,” he said.
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
