2/3/07 Los Olivos - An intoxicated 27-year-old man from the Fresno area offered an officer a $100,000 bribe to keep quiet about a break-in into a residence on Foxen Canyon Rd. in Los Olivos. An 18-year-old man from Rolling Green Drive in Santa Maria was with him and is an additional suspect. The Fresno man was driving to Santa Barbara on a suspended license when a back tire blew out and the car caught on fire. The two men ran to a nearby house and banged on all the doors and windows while yelling incoherently. When the female homeowner, 61, didn’t open the door, they used an axe handle to break a window to enter her house.

The owner of the house called police and hid in a locked closet, while the two men ran from the kitchen to the living room, and then to the guest room, looking for water to extinguish the vehicle fire. At one point during their search, the suspects panicked and ran away, but then came back. Nothing was missing but a glass bowl which had been removed from the bathroom and the decorative contents of the bowl had been dumped on the floor in the living room. The bowl had been filled with water and used in an attempt to extinguish the car.

Ultimately, the fire department extinguished the fire that had destroyed the front end of the car. The Fresno man’s identity could not be verified, but he was identified by witnesses and with his muddy footprints found at the scene, his shoes were booked into evidence. He was arrested for burglary and entering a residence with intent to commit a theft.