Morro Bay police, with help from the County Sheriff’s Department, quickly arrested a Lompoc man after he allegedly burglarized a waterfront art gallery and made off with a significant amount of jewelry.
MBPD Cmdr. Tony Mosqueda said that they were dispatched to a burglar alarm at the By the Bay Gallery in the 800 block of the Embarcadero at 3:45 a.m. Sunday. May 31.
They arrived within minutes and officers discovered a broken front window at the business, Cmdr. Mosqueda said in a news release.
“The property owner was contacted,” he said, “and confirmed a significant loss, primarily consisting of jewelry.”
Then shortly after 4 a.m., Cmdr. Mosqueda said, SLO County Sheriff’s Deputies stopped a suspicious vehicle for “a vehicle code violation” somewhere within the Morro Bay City Limits.
“During the stop,” Cmdr. Mosqueda said, “deputies contacted the driver, identified as 27-year-old Ryan Michael Coats, and observed narcotics and drug paraphernalia inside the vehicle.”
Deputies searched the vehicle and reportedly discovered “a large quantity of jewelry.”
MBPD officers responded to the traffic stop and were reportedly able to identify the majority of the recovered jewelry suspected to be property “stolen from the Embarcadero Road business.”
Coats was arrested on suspicion of burglary, receiving or possessing stolen property, and theft with two or more prior convictions, Cmdr. Mosqueda said.
The suspected stolen jewelry wasn’t the only suspicious items Sheriff’s deputies found in their search.
Cmdr. Mosqueda said the Sheriff’s Office “is investigating additional incidents potentially connected to other property recovered from Coats’ vehicle.”
If readers have additional information related to the Embarcadero burglary, contact the Morro Bay Police Department at: 805-772-6225 (non emergency).
If anyone has information related to the other potential crimes Coats may have been involved in that were in the Sheriff’s jurisdiction, call: 805-781-4500 (non emergency).
The quick arrest of the suspect was most fortunate for law enforcement and the victim, as Sheriff’s deputies who work out of the Coast Station in Los Osos have a large response area — spanning from Los Osos to SLO and north to the SLO-Monterey County Line. So their being in Morro Bay at that particular time and place was most unlucky for the alleged burglar.
A check of the County Jail website’s “Who’s in Custody” link on June 3 showed that Coats was no longer in custody.
