Full Notification

Matthew Robert Torres, age 39, a transient with ties to Ventura County, was arrested for two counts of sexual assault and burglary. The victims in this case are two girls under the age of 14. Torres was the suspicious subject depicted in a July 23, 2016 Santa Barbara Police Department Media Release and social media advisory (Nixle, Nextdoor, Facebook, and Twitter) requesting the public’s help identifying him. The men and women of the Santa Barbara Police Department are grateful for the numerous tips received from community members and the cooperation provided by local businesses that assisted in solving this case.

On July 23, 2016 at 4:09 a.m., officers from the Santa Barbara Police Department responded to a call of a suspicious subject inside of a residence located in the City’s waterfront area. At the time of the incident the victims and their family had been asleep inside the premises. Investigation indicates that minutes earlier Torres entered the residence through an unlocked door, went to the bedroom where the victims were sleeping, and sexually assaulted them. Noise made by the girls roused their father, who confronted Torres and ushered him out of the apartment. Once Torres was gone the victim’s father checked on his daughters and discovered that they had been molested. The police were called.

SBPD detectives arranged for child forensic interviews and forensic medical examinations to be conducted with the victims. The victims and their family were put in contact with sexual assault victim advocates.

Following the incident officers canvassed the waterfront area looking for the suspect based on the description of him provided by the victims’ father. These efforts included contacting businesses to see if their security cameras might have captured an image of the suspect passing by. A camera from a business in the vicinity of the 200 block of State Street was found to have captured images of a man that matched the suspect’s description. SBPD subsequently released these photos in a media release and via social media with a request to the public for assistance identifying the man depicted or for any clues as to his whereabouts. This prompted several calls to the Police Department indicating that the suspect had recently been seen downtown on State Street and on Carrillo Street. Hoping that the suspect would return to this area, officers saturated the downtown corridor and conducted surveillance. At approximately 9:00 p.m. on July 23, 2016 Officer Michael Epstein and Lieutenant Kenneth Kushner observed Torres walking on 100 W. Carrillo Street. They contacted Torres and took him into custody without incident.

Torres was interviewed by detectives at SBPD and subsequently booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on the aforementioned charges with a bail amount of $100,000.00.