Samuel Camargo-Reyes
An 80-year-old Goleta man remains at large after breaking contact with probation and skipping a scheduled court appearance on a felony charge of molesting a young girl for four years, prosecutors said.
A no-bail arrest was issued for Samuel Camargo-Reyes after he lost contact with probation and failed to appear in court Dec. 12 for a conference to set a date for his preliminary hearing.
“As of this morning, he has not been booked,” Deputy District Attorney Sarah Barkley told the News-Press on Tuesday. “Again, I can’t comment on the ongoing investigation, but his warrant remains out.”
Mr. Reyes has been charged with a single count of continuous sexual abuse of a child, a felony, which carries a maximum sentence of 16 years in state prison, she said.
Neither she nor the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office would say whether they believe Mr. Camargo-Reyes remains in the area, in Goleta or Santa Barbara County, or whether they think he has fled the state.
On May 3, detectives began investigating a report of lewd acts with a child that allegedly occurred in Mr. Carmago-Reyes’ business in an unmarked office in the 200 block of Pine Avenue in Goleta.
As a result of their investigation into this report, sheriff’s detectives arrested Mr. Carmago-Reyes — also known as Samuel Reyes-Camargo — on a warrant for lewd acts with a child under the age of 14, a felony. The Sheriff’s Office announced his arrest on Aug. 1.
The felony complaint filed against him alleges that he engaged in three or more acts of “substantial sexual conduct” or three or more acts of lewd or lascivious conduct with a child 14 or younger “while the defendant resided with, or had recurring access to, the child.”
Prosecutors put the girl’s age at between 5 and 9 at the time of the alleged offenses, which they alleged occurred between Jan. 22, 2015 and Jan. 22, 2019.
Mr. Carmago-Reyes pleaded not guilty at his Aug. 2 arraignment. The next day, Aug. 3, his original bail set at $500,000 was reduced to $40,000, a bond was posted and he was released from custody.
He met with his probation officer and appeared in court repeatedly to set a date for his preliminary hearing, and each time his case was continued.
Probation informed prosecutors that they lost contact with Mr. Camargo-Reyes on Nov. 27. His last scheduled court date was Dec. 12 when he failed to show up, prosecutors said.
Detectives believe the defendant had access to other children at his Goleta business, located in an unmarked office space at the corner of Pine Avenue and Gaviota Street where he sold nutritional supplements since approximately 2011.
Detectives encouraged anyone with knowledge of additional crimes allegedly associated with Mr. Carmago-Reyes or his business in Goleta to contact the sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division.
Santa Barbara County sheriff’s detectives are asking anyone with information about Mr. Camargo-Reyes’ current whereabouts to call Detective Swank at 805-681-4150. Anyone who would like to remain anonymous can submit information at sbsheriff.org/home/anonymous-tip or call 805-681-4171.
email: nhartsteinnewspress@gmail.com
