A man allegedly attempting to sell stolen surfboards to a sports-equipment store near Goleta led to three arrests on Wednesday, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department.
At about noon on Wednesday, sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to Play It Again Sports on the 4800 block of Hollister Avenue after a report of someone trying to sell stolen surfboards, said Kelly Hoover, a sheriff’s spokeswoman.
Deputies contacted the suspect — Aaron Derkacz, 44, of Santa Barbara — and determined the surfboards had been stolen the previous day from a parked vehicle near the beach in Santa Barbara, Hoover said.
Derkacz was accompanied by Carly Jo Orrison, 26, of Solvang and Kevin Derrick, 25, of Santa Barbara, who were sitting in a pickup truck parked near the business, Hoover said.
“Deputies contacted Orrison and Derrick and soon learned the pickup truck had been stolen out of the city of Santa Maria last month,” Hoover said. “Orrison and Derrick repeatedly provided false information to deputies during the investigation into the stolen truck.”
A search of the truck turned up multiple items of suspected stolen property, including laptop computers, cell phones, U.S. mail, and credit cards., Hoover said.
Deputies also located a credit card “skimming” device in the truck, typically used to encode other cards with stolen credit card information.
Derkacz, Orrison and Derrick were all arrested and booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail, Hoover said.
Derkacz was charged with possession of stolen property, with bail set at $20,000.
Derrick was charged with possession of stolen property, possession of a credit card-skimming device, identity theft, mail theft and providing false information to a peace officer.
He had an outstanding warrant and was being held without bail for violating his probation.
Orisson was charged with providing false information to a peace officer and was released from custody Thursday.
— 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.