Full Notification

Felipe Martinez Gallegos, age 31, of Santa Barbara, was arrested for the crimes of burglary, assault with the intent to commit rape, penetration with a foreign object (digital penetration), and dissuading a witness. The victim is a tourist, a 52-year old woman from Germany, who was attacked in her room at the Ala Mar Motel.

On January 3, 2015 at 6:39 a.m., officers from the Santa Barbara Police Department responded to the Ala Mar Motel located at 102 W. Cabrillo Boulevard on a call of an attempted rape that had just occurred. The suspect, Gallegos, had fled the scene but was located by Officer April DeBlauw on the 200 block of Bath Street. Gallegos was positively identified as the suspect in this case during an in-field show-up and was subsequently arrested.

Investigation revealed that Gallegos was in possession of a key to the room where the crimes occurred; he obtained the key from a previous stay and did not return it. On the morning of the incident Gallegos used the key to gain entry into the room, confronted the victim, and sexually assaulted her. During the attack he prevented her from using her cell phone to call for help. The victim physically resisted, and when it became apparent to Gallegos that others may have been alerted to the incident he fled the scene.

The victim was assisted during the investigation by an advocate from the Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center. Gallegos was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on the aforementioned charges with a bail amount of $1,000,000.00.