Our County Supervisors’ Role in the Fiesta Murder

By Andy Caldwell

It is standard policy of local law enforcement agencies to release as little information as is possible while investigating criminal activity. Such is the case with the apparent murder of one person and wounding of two others by way of a knife attack during the weekend celebration of the Santa Barbara Fiesta.

At the time I am writing this column, three suspects have been arrested and two have been charged with the murder of Anthony Michael Bisquera-Hartley. Again, they are only suspects, innocent until proven guilty. There is a website called Local Crime News that reports arrest information history for people suspected of certain crimes jurisdiction by jurisdiction, however, the website does not indicate whether cases ended up in a conviction or dismissal.

Here is what the LCN reports for the three people with the same names as those arrested as suspects during the fiesta:

Sergio Rivas (charged for murder at the fiesta and gang enhancements): in addition to a couple of drunk-driving-related offenses, he was arrested by the Sheriff’s department in 2016 for “street terrorism” (he previously stabbed three people on State Street) and a hit-and-run resulting in property damage.

Luis Gerardo Terrazas (charged with attempted murder at the fiesta with gang enhancements; he attempted to kill Rivas!): Mr. Terrazas was arrested in 2016 and 2017 for intoxication in public and in 2015 for vandalism of $5,000 or more.

A man named Juan Fernando Rios (also charged with murder at the fiesta with gang enhancements) is the most interesting of the three people arrested in that he was just arrested July 26, 2025, just a week or so before the fiesta, on charges of DUI alcohol/drugs, an addict in possession of a 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.

Santa Barbara Jails’ Open Door Policy

All that begs the question, how was Rios back on the street a week later during the fiesta to allegedly commit murder?

My educated guess? 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 the county’s 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. The Supervisors have foisted this policy on their fellow electeds, that is, our District Attorney and the Sheriff, by way of controlling their budgets. Read that coercion, as in making them an offer they can’t refuse.

Did somebody just lose their life because of this policy? Ask the Chair of the Board of Supervisors, Laura Capps, a big supporter of this catch-and-release policy, this question please. You can reach her at lcapps@countyofsb.org or 805 568 2191.

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 – 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 the jail because they are sticking to their story that pre-trial diversion is a success. You should call out Capps for that too.

International Crime Syndicates Flourishing

Relatedly, another issue our Democrat politicians are ignoring has to do with the Trump administration’s efforts to enforce our immigration laws with a focus on the number of serious crimes being committed in America by members of international organized crime syndicates. That is, despite their spin, not all illegal immigrants are coming here from Latin America to make an otherwise honest living.

Do you recall the stories about military-aged men from China coming across our border illegally in droves? Many people assumed that these young men were involved in some way, shape, or form with the Chinese Communist Party, including perhaps, being members of the army of the People’s Republic of China. While that still may be the case, we know for certain that many of these young men are associates of China’s version of the Mafia, commonly known as the Triad.

Believe it or not, the Triad is operating a multi-billion-dollar drug, prostitution, and money-laundering operation in several states in the heartland and along the Eastern Seaboard. As Janet Levy writing for American Thinker stated, “In Oklahoma, at one point authorities were raiding and shutting down about 15 illegal large-scale illegal marijuana operations every day.” These black-market operations also use smuggled illegal aliens as their labor force (sound familiar?). The billions in proceeds are going back to China.

The efforts by ICE and Homeland Security we have seen here locally and in other states is part of an effort to dismantle the efforts of the Mexican drug cartels and these other transnational criminal enterprises, to disrupt their drug and human trafficking operations. And for that they deserve some credit and our respect, which is more than I can say for all our local politicians, from Congressman Salud Carbajal to Laura Capps and others who are living in denial of the dangers associated with open borders and all the criminal activity arising from the same even as it occurs in our own backyard.

Andy Caldwell, Executive Director, COLAB

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