Domonick Alonzo Love

A Santa Barbara homeless man has been arrested for raping a 15-year-old girl during a Westside house party last week. Police spokesperson Sgt. Riley Harwood said Domonick Alonzo Love, 18, was booked Monday on multiple felony charges and is being held in County Jail.

Harwood said officers responded to the Cottage Hospital Emergency Room on March 20 to investigate a rape. They learned that the night before the victim met with “acquaintances from the downtown Santa Barbara homeless community” and accompanied Love — who goes by the street name “Slim” — to a party. The victim became drunk and was then assaulted by Love, Harwood said.

“Based on the descriptions provided of the suspect’s appearance and tattoos, and his moniker, several Santa Barbara Police Officers immediately recognized the suspect as Love,” Harwood said in a media statement. “Love has had numerous contacts with police in Santa Barbara’s Downtown corridor since November 2013.”

Though officers and detectives canvassed the downtown area during their search for Love, they were unable to locate him until a Sheriff’s deputy responding to a disturbance in Santa Ynez on March 24 recognized Love as a wanted subject and contacted city police.

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