California’s crime spree and Gov. Gavin Newsom

August 14, 2025

OPINION by ANDY CALDWELL

While Gov. Gavin Newsom is closing one prison after another in California, criminal activity has not abated in our state for a myriad of reasons. In the City of Santa Barbara, at their recent annual Old Spanish Days Fiesta celebration, one person was murdered while two others were wounded.

Sergio Rivas has been charged for murder at the fiesta with gang enhancements. In addition to a couple of previous drunk driving-related offenses, he was arrested by the Sheriff’s department in 2016 for “street terrorism.” That is, he previously stabbed three people on the very same street as the current charges!

Luis Gerardo Terrazas was also charged with attempted murder at the fiesta with gang enhancements- he attempted to kill Rivas.

A man named Juan Fernando Rios was also charged with murder at the fiesta with gang enhancements. His is the most interesting of the three people arrested in that he was just arrested on July 26, just a week or so before the fiesta, on charges of DUI alcohol/drugs, addict in possession of firearm, possession of ammunition, carrying a loaded firearm with a previous felony conviction, and carrying a firearm when not the registered owner.

He also has been suspected in the past of other serious felonies. All that begs the question, how was Rios back on the street a week after having been arrested to allegedly commit murder during the fiesta?

Well, in addition to offering extremely cheap bail, Santa Barbara County Supervisors have also pushed for a policy that allows people who are accused of serious crimes to walk freely after having been arraigned as it is their policy to not detain people in custody while awaiting trial.

In other words, they would rather give people with long records a break rather than err on the side of public safety. They have foisted this policy on their fellow electeds, that is, our district attorney and the sheriff, by way of controlling their budgets. Foisted? Read that coercion, as in making them an offer they can’t refuse.

Did somebody just lose their life because of these policies?

Another telltale sign this policy is not working has to do with the fact that local courts have had to issue some 10,000 warrants for failure to appear in court in Santa Barbara County.

What does that mean? All those people who were suspected and arrested for criminal activities and allowed to walk before their trial never bothered to show up for their trial.

Regardless, these same county supervisors are in the process of seriously reducing the carrying capacity of our jail because they are sticking to their story that low bail amounts and pre-trial diversion are a success.

Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom has just announced the closure of yet another prison in our state. He is aiming to close five total.

The reduction in prison population has been made possible by gutting California’s Three Strikes Law that sent people to prison for decades, if not a lifetime, for committing three felonies.

California’s naive and gullible voters gutted this law by a variety of means including changing the definition of what constitutes a felony, violent or otherwise. For example, as Katy Grimes of The California Globe reported, Proposition 57 rendered the following crimes in California “non-violent” felonies: human trafficking, raping an unconscious person, drive-by shooting, assault with a deadly weapon or firearm, serial arson, exploding a bomb to injure people, solicitation to commit murder, and domestic violence.”

Nonviolent? That is how Gavin Newsom and his friends in communities like Santa Barbara have justified keeping criminals out of our prisons and jails.

Other California soft-on-crime factors, besides low bail and pre-trial diversion, came in the form of other ballot propositions. Proposition 47 reduced serial retail theft and several drug offenses from felony to misdemeanor status.

The amount of retail theft in California resulting from the same was staggering, resulting in over $100 billion in losses in some years before voters repealed Prop. 47 by way of Proposition 36. However, Governor Newsom, who actively opposed Prop. 36, has refused to allocate any funds to enforce Proposition 36 at the local level in support of prosecutors!

California was once considered a paradise. It is now only a paradise for soft-on-crime democrat politicians and their number one fan base comprised of so-called non-violent felons.

It is an appalling thought that such a beautiful city as Santa Barbara would have their annual Old Spanish Day’s Fiesta celebration marred by a modern-day version of the bandoleros, but that is both the old and new California way.

Andy Caldwell is the executive director of COLAB in Santa Barbara County and host of The Andy Caldwell Radio Show, weekdays from 3-5 p.m. on  FM 98.5, FM 99.5, AM 1240, AM 1290 and FM 96.9.