Santa Barbara, CA -- Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s detectives have arrested a 23-year old Isla Vista man for the News Year’s day firebombing of the Isla Vista Foot Patrol. 

However, a similar attack on IVFP on November 15, 2011, remains unsolved.  Sheriff’s detectives have been looking into any connection to the first attack since taking Keith Keiper into custody on Wednesday, January 25, 2012.  Keiper, a UCSB senior, is believed to have worked alone when he threw one “Molotov cocktail” at the front of the IVFP on the 6500 block of Trigo Road.  No one was hurt in that incident, but the building did suffer some minor damage.

In the November attack, a lone figure was seen throwing two “Molotov cocktails” at the front of the IVFP. In that incident, the attack also caused some minor damage to the front of the building, as well as smashing the windshield of a Sheriff’s patrol car.  Again, the November case remains unsolved and detectives have not confirmed, nor ruled out, a connection to the second attack on New Year’s Day.  

Keiper remains in the Santa Barbara County Jail on $250,000 bail for felony arson of an inhabited dwelling.  

The FBI’s $5,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the November 15, 2011, remains in effect.