SANTA BARBARA, Calif., July 8 (Santa Barbara Times Online) — Available Santa Barbara County sheriff’s releases describe several separate child-exploitation cases this spring, but none confirms the reported arrest of a Santa Barbara man accused of injecting a 17-year-old girl with methamphetamine after meeting her online.
In a June 10 release, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said detectives arrested 20-year-old Edward “Eddie” Alessandro Zarate of Santa Maria after opening an investigation May 28. The office said the case involved online communications with minors and multiple felony allegations.
The sheriff’s office later said it was seeking additional survivors or witnesses in the Zarate case. The release did not identify a court filing or give a public case number.
In separate cases, the agency said detectives arrested 27-year-old Nathan Abruzzese of Ventura on April 22 and 61-year-old Martin Luis Rojas of Goleta on April 28 in different internet-crimes-against-children investigations. The Abruzzese investigation began April 8 after a detective posing as a 13-year-old girl was contacted online, according to the sheriff’s office.
