Oceano Sheriff's substation notes uptick in crime rate 

A murder case marked former Sheriff's South Station Commander Jay Wells' final days in the Oceano Community Services District before his reassignment.

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• Screenshot From Oceano Community Services District Board Meeting
• GRIM PICTURE Former Sheriff's South Station Commander Jay Wells informed the OCSD Board at its June meeting that the community saw an increased rate of police reports and arrests in May.

"We had a homicide in Oceano that occurred this past week. Due to the diligence of the Sheriff's Office, we were able to wrap that case up pretty quick. There is no outstanding danger to the public; the suspect has been arrested in that case," he said at the June 8 OCSD board meeting. "There seems to be a lot of loss of lives in our community lately. Our coroner's cases are going up. Some of our longstanding residents of Oceano have been passing away lately. I know the whole community feels that pain whether they're savory characters or unsavory characters, I think it's still a loss to the community because they're people we've been dealing with for many, many years."

While Wells didn't elaborate on the homicide case details, Tony Cipolla, the Sheriff's Office spokeperson, told New Times that a murder took place on June 4. That day, 27-year-old Angel Eduardo Ramos-Ramirez of Santa Maria allegedly repeatedly stabbed Daniel Diaz, 20, in the 2000 block of Ocean Street in Oceano. Ramos-Ramirez fled soon after but witnesses at the scene identified him along with his vehicle. Sheriff's Detectives arrested him, and Ramos-Ramirez was booked in the San Luis Obispo County Jail on a murder charge.

During the meeting, Wells also reported that Oceano saw an uptick in crimes in May.

"The Sheriff's Office had 953 calls for service, which generated 143 police reports and 44 arrests, which is up significantly this last month. We filed an additional 47 cases with the District Attorney's Office or probation department for prosecution," he told the board.

Wells was reassigned and transferred to the civil division, replaced by Headquarter Commander Keith Scott.

New Times obtained crime data from the Sheriff's Office, which backed up Wells' statement. According to the latest numbers tabulated for May, Oceano reflected a 2 percent increase in calls for service, a 26 percent increase in crime reports filed, a 40 percent increase in arrests made, and a 28 percent increase in cases filed with the DA's Office, compared to the same month last year.

While crime reports and arrests in Oceano declined in January and February compared to the same time period in 2021, they started climbing in March 2022 and have been increasing. Cipolla, the Sheriff's Office spokeperson, told New Times that he wouldn't classify it as a spike in crimes based on the data.

"In fact, in a few of those months, crime reports went down from the previous year. And that's the general nature of crime, in that some months there may be a downward trend and other months it may go up. We are constantly monitoring the crime trends in the county so we can assess our resources and direct them to where they are needed most," he said. Δ