May 4

Expired Mexican license

A deputy on routine patrol of Highway 154 observed a car speeding. After the car was pulled over, the Santa Maria driver only had his Mexican national photo identification card and an expired provincial Mexican driver’s license. He was unable to provide proof of registration for the car. The man was cited and he and his wife were released. The registered owner of the car arrived to pick it up.

 

May 3

Not a happy camper

Two deputies were dispatched to Cachuma Lake after a report of an intoxicated man threatening and hitting other campers. After deputies arrived, the suspect’s wife told them her husband was belligerent.

She said he had been challenging other campers to fight and even punched some of them. The camp party was so distraught, it was packing up to leave. A park ranger told deputies the Santa Barbara man was no longer allowed in the park and needed to leave.

Deputies arrested the man for public intoxication. During a search of the man, a deputy found $1,220 cash in his wallet and marijuana and a pipe in his pants pocket. The man had a medicinal marijuana card and requested the money be given to his wife. Once in custody, the man threatened to punch the deputy in the face. He was booked in the Lompoc jail.

 

May 2

Unlicensed driving

A Salinas man was pulled over at Highway 154 and Armor Ranch Road for speeding and having his license plate covered by an orange sticker. He then admitted to being an unlicensed driver. The man was cited and released and the vehicle was towed.

 

Domestic disturbance

Deputies were dispatched to a home in Los Olivos after receiving a call about a domestic disturbance. The husband appeared slightly drunk and said he did not threaten or become violent in any way.

He said he would not argue with his wife any more that night. The wife said they had been arguing a lot over the past few months, and she told her husband she would call law enforcement if it continued.

The deputies left, although they returned again less than an hour later. The wife said her husband continued to yell at her. At the deputies’ request, the husband agreed to spend the night at a motel. A counselor arrived to speak with the wife.

 

May 1

Tinted windshield

A Lompoc man was pulled over at Alisal and Mission in Solvang for having a tinted front windshield and excessive hanging objects from the rearview mirror. The man admitted to being an unlicensed driver. He was cited and released and the car was towed.

Drug use

While on Alisal Road in Solvang, a deputy noticed a driver fail to yield to oncoming traffic. When he pulled the Ballard driver over, the deputy noticed the man’s strange appearance and behavior. The driver said he was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but the deputy conducted some field tests anyway.

The man did not pass the tests, and then he admitted to taking two Vicodin pills about 10 days earlier. He later said he also took a Vicodin that day, but retracted that statement and said he had taken two Zanax, instead.

He continued on to say he was taking prescription pills he bought from “random people” in Santa Barbara on various dates.

Another deputy searched the man’s car and discovered a used hypodermic syringe wrapped in a T-shirt.

The Ballard man claimed it wasn’t his, though the deputy saw fresh puncture wounds on the insides of his elbows. The man later said he did inject a substance, though he would not say what, and admitted to using black tar heroin in the past. He was cited and released. Later, the man’s urine sample came back positive for opiate and benzodiazepine metabolites.

 

April 30

Hit and run

A woman living on Fir Street in Solvang reported a hit-and-run accident. She said she was at home when she heard a car drive by followed by a loud thump. She went outside to investigate and discovered the driver side rearview mirror on her car was broken. The deputy took several photographs and gave her a case number.

 

Suicide and death threats

A clinical psychologist called deputies because her patient made several suicide threats during a therapy session. When deputies arrived at the patient’s home in Santa Ynez, they learned the suspect also made death threats to his wife.

The wife told deputies her husband has been using methamphetamine for 20 years and is an alcoholic. He was seeing the psychologist for his drug and alcohol abuse. The wife said she did not want to press charges.

 

No California license

A deputy pulled over a Solvang man on Viborg Road for a rolling stop at a stop sign. The exhaust system on the car had also been modified to produce amplified sound. The driver had an expired Mexican driver’s license and said though he had been living in California for five years, he was unable to obtain a California license. He was cited and released and the car was towed.

April 28

Suspect with gun

Deputies responded in Santa Ynez to a report of suspicious circumstances. A woman and her nephew live in a house with separate entrances. The woman said an unknown man came to the house asking for someone named Eddie.

The woman said no one lived there by that name. The man asked about the other part of the house, and the woman said her nephew lived there but he was not named Eddie and he wasn’t at home. The suspect said, “I think I’ll go in anyway,” pulled a handgun, and entered the nephew’s bedroom. He looked around and then left the house.

The woman’s neighbor later told deputies another man approached him while walking and asked if the neighbor knew where Eddie was. The neighbor said he did not know anyone by that name. The man got in a car and left.

 

April 21

It’s always a friend’s needle

Deputies pulled over a vehicle on Highway 246 in Solvang for having amplified exhaust sound. The Santa Ynez driver agreed to a vehicle search saying, “Yeah man, that’s no problem. There’s nothing in there.” Although deputies did not find any illegal items on the driver or his Buellton passenger, they did find a hypodermic syringe and needle in the passenger’s backpack.

The passenger said his friends left the syringe at his house and he forgot he put it in his backpack to be properly disposed of at another time. He admitted to using syringes a few years ago when he had a methamphetamine addiction, but he didn’t use anymore. The passenger admitted to smoking marijuana recently. The passenger was cited and both men were released.

 

April 19

Trespassing and threatening

Security personnel contacted deputies about a man refusing to leave the casino. Apparently, the bus driver for the casino would not let the man, a transient, on the bus because he did not have a Chumash Players Card. Security arrived, at which point the man challenged them to a fight, saying, “Come on, let’s fight it out.” Security handcuffed the man until deputies arrived. The man had bleeding cuts on parts of his body that security said he had before they arrived.

The man appeared drunk. A records check on him revealed he had some outstanding warrants for public intoxication and battery and theft. While transporting the man back to the Santa Barbara jail, a deputy noticed the man talking to himself as if three people were in the backseat with him. He’d ask himself questions and answer them in a different voice.