Santa Barbara police arrested two men Friday morning on multiple felony charges stemming from the alleged sexual assault of a 28-year-old woman last October. According to police department spokesperson Sgt. Riley Harwood, suspects Ubaldo De La Cruz-Gonzalez, 29, and Carlos Rojas-Villafana, 43, live in the same house on the 200 block of N. Milpas Street.
At around 10:00 p.m. on October 23, Harwood said, the victim and a friend went to the suspects’ house to drink beers. A short while later, the friend abruptly left, leaving the victim alone with the two men. When she tried to leave the home at around 10:40 p.m., Harwood said, the pair prevented her from doing so and then “forcefully and repeatedly sexually assaulted” her until 7 a.m. the next morning. “The victim was released when she convinced De La Cruz-Gonzalez that she needed to be at work that morning,” Harwood said.
Three hours later, the victim and an advocate from the Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center reported the assault to police. After an investigation — which included interviews, the collection of evidence, a forensic medical examination of the victim, and surveillance — De La Cruz-Gonzalez and Rojas-Villafana were identified. They were arrested Friday morning as they were detailing a car. They’re both being held in County Jail on $100,000 bail.