A 20-year-old male from Santa Barbara County has been detained for molesting young girls in a retail store, and authorities are looking for more victims.
Authorities said they received the initial report that the suspect, now identified as 20-year-old Santa Maria resident Angel Gabriel Lopez Rojas, grabbed a 6-year-old girl’s buttocks on August 21.
Rojas allegedly touched the youngster at the Dollar Tree store on 4869 S. Bradley Road in Orcutt.
When Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived on the scene, the 20-year-old had already gone, according to a news release.
On September 13, the department received two additional reports of young females, a 9-year-old and a 7-year-old, being apprehended at the Dollar Tree store.
Just over a week later, on September 13, when detectives identified the 20-year-old as the culprit, he was detained in the 1200 block of Bauer Avenue in Orcutt.
He was placed into the Northern Branch Jail and is being held without bail for charges such as indecent and lascivious activities with a youngster under 14 and child nuisance.
