Guilty plea entered in Santa Maria murder case
The victim s remains were discovered last year at a Nipomo golf course
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and last updated 2021-02-10 19:47:32-05
One of three people arrested in connection with the 2018 murder of a Santa Maria man has pleaded guilty.
Benjamin Mersai was arrested last year on suspicion of murder, conspiracy and accessory to murder, but pleaded guilty Jan. 26 to voluntary manslaughter âdue to his level of participation and other mitigating circumstances in the case,â according to the Santa Barbara County District Attorneyâs Office.
The 34-year-old was taken into custody in September of last year at Blacklake Golf Resort in Nipomo, the same golf course where the remains of Joseph Martin Govey were pulled from a lake on the property a week earlier.
Gang members murder college students attempting to sell pot in Goleta
February 10, 2021
By JOSH FRIEDMAN
Two Santa Barbara gang members are accused of shooting and killing a pair of 19-year-old college students who were attempting to sell marijuana in Goleta.
Prosecutors have charged the gang members with two counts of murder each over a drug deal that turned into a deadly “robbery rip-off.”
On Jan. 7, a gunman or gunmen shot Enzo Marino Rastelli and Jasper Pieter van der Meulen on Burtis Street in Goleta. Responders found Rastelli and van der Meulen wounded inside a vehicle.
Rastelli died at the scene, and Van Der Meulen succumbed to his injuries three weeks later.
Arraignment Continued for Homicide Suspect in Shooting Deaths of 2 College Students Near Goleta
Bryan Munoz of Santa Barbara and a 15-year-old juvenile are accused in slayings of Enzo Marino Rastelli and Jasper Pieter van der Meulen
Santa Barbara County SWAT team members serve search and arrest warrants last Thursday in Santa Barbara. One of those arrested, Bryan Munoz, 21, was criminally charged with homicide and conspiracy to commit robbery, and was arraigned in court on Monday. (Angela Duffy Kelly photo) By Tom Bolton, Noozhawk Executive Editor | @tombol | UPDATED 10:35 p.m.
February 8, 2021
| 3:20 p.m.
A Santa Barbara man accused of murdering two local college students in what authorities are describing as a drug deal gone bad appeared for arraignment Monday in Superior Court in Santa Barbara.
The Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office announced that Bryan Munoz and an unnamed minor have been charged with murder in the double-homicide that took place near Goleta on Jan. 7.
Housing and Development Newsletter
The Santa Barbara County sting operations took place Jan. 26-28, 2020, and resulted in the arrest of 12 sex buyers and one human trafficker. Five potential victims of human trafficking were identified and connected with local resources by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office, Victim-Witness Program.
Statewide totals for Operation Reclaim Rebuild were announced at a Friday press conference hosted by the Los Angeles Police Department hosted. This years’ statewide coordinated effort resulted in the rescue of 87 juvenile and adult victims, and the arrest of 518 individuals for crimes associated with human trafficking.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office Human Trafficking division was established in 2016 through a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. The grant was renewed in 2020 with $1.2 million in funding for three years.