June 23
Restricted driving
A Ventura man was pulled
over at Mission Drive and Alamo Pintado for having an inoperative license plate
light. The driver said his license might be suspended, and a records check
proved the man’s license was, in fact, suspended for prior DUI convictions. The
man was allowed only to drive to work or to his DUI classes. The man admitted,
however, to driving from Ventura to the Chumash Casino earlier that day. He was
cited and his vehicle towed.
June 22
Unlicensed driving
A deputy on Edison Street
noticed a vehicle driving without a license plate light. When he made a traffic
stop, the deputy learned the Santa Maria driver did not have a license. The
driver said he was driving because he had to pick up his wife at the casino. A
records check on the man revealed his license was suspended, and he had two
$5,000 warrants for his arrest. The man was issued multiple citations and the
vehicle was released to his sister.
June 21
Trespassing
On June 20, a Santa Barbara
man was banned from the Chumash Casino for disruptive behavior. He returned
just a few hours later and was again disruptive. The man told a responding
deputy he had fallen asleep in the lobby earlier that day, which was against
the rules, and he also lost $2,000. He said he returned to the casino because
he was upset over losing his money. Casino security placed the man under
citizen’s arrest and he was escorted off the property.
Public intoxication
While two deputies were
conducting field interviews on Alisal Road, an Oregon man approached them
carrying an open can of beer. The deputies recognized the man from a previous
contact and told him to dump his beer. The man appeared very intoxicated, and
the deputies told him to leave with his sober friend. The Oregon man agreed,
but later, when deputies were arresting one of the men they had been
interviewing, the Oregon man reappeared and tried to grab the subject being
arrested. The Oregon man was arrested for public intoxication and taken to the
Santa Barbara County Jail.
June 20
Lying in the road
Deputies responded to
Baseline Avenue on report of a Santa Ynez man lying in the middle of the
roadway. When they arrived, deputies noted the man was unresponsive and lying
next to a pile of vomit. The man eventually woke up but could not maintain his
balance. The deputies helped him until the paramedics arrived. The man was
treated at the Santa Ynez Cottage hospital and then arrested for public
intoxication and taken to the Lompoc jail.
Two tall boys and ‘wodka’
An off-duty deputy contacted
dispatch about a potentially drunk man walking along Mission Drive in Solvang.
The responding deputy recognized the subject, a transient, from previous
contacts. The man was staggering alongside the shoulder of the road and smelled
of alcohol. When asked if he had been drinking, the subject said, “Yes, two
tall boys.” When asked if he drank anything else, the man replied, “I also
drank a half pint of ‘wodka,’ that’s vodka in German.” The man was arrested for
public intoxication and taken to the Santa Barbara County Jail.
Chumash, USA
A man dressed all in black
was reported urinating in a flower bed on Odin Way.
When a deputy arrived and contacted the suspect, the Santa Ynez man did not
respond and only stared at the deputy with a blank expression. The deputy noted
the man appeared heavily intoxicated and also had apparently fallen down at
some point because his clothes were covered in twigs, leaves and other debris.
The front of his pants and shoes were also wet, as a result of uncoordinated urination.
The suspect would only give his first name and said he drank some alcohol,
though he couldn’t quite remember. When asked where he was, the suspect
replied, “I’m in Chumash, USA. I don’t have the zip code for Chumash, though. I’m
lost because this isn’t my friend’s house.” The homeowner of the residence was
contacted and confirmed they did not know the man. During a search, the deputy
uncovered several empty nitrous oxide containers, or “whippits,” and an
aluminum “cracker “used to open the containers so the contents can be inhaled.
The man admitted to inhaling about four of the nitrous oxide containers. The suspect was arrested for public
intoxication and taken to the Santa Barbara County Jail.
June 19
Warrant for arrest
Deputies followed a Grover Beach
man out of the Chumash Casino parking lot because they had a warrant on him.
The suspect sped out of the parking structure and parked at a residence on
Manzana Street. Deputies handcuffed the man. A records
check showed the suspect had a suspended driver’s license for a prior DUI
conviction. The man also displayed symptoms of being under the influence of
drugs. The man could not provide a urine sample and he was placed on a
probation hold and taken to the Santa Maria Jail. His car was towed.
June 17
Not of age
A deputy pulled a car over
on Mission Drive at Alisal Road for having inoperative brake lights. The deputy
observed an opened 12-pack of beer in the back seat that was still cold. The
Solvang driver, however, was not of legal age to purchase or consume alcohol.
He said he did not know who the beer belonged to, and
then said it belonged to his brother. He did not appear to be under the
influence of alcohol. He was cited as a minor in possession of alcohol and
released.
June 15
Purchases in Abu Dhabi
A Los Olivos woman reported
that her and her husband’s credit card had been used to make two large
purchases without their knowledge or consent. The woman said on June 11, she
got a call from her credit card representative who said someone had called claiming
to be the Los Olivos woman and asking questions about the account. Another
credit card representative did not relay any information to the fraudulent
caller. On June 12, though, the
Los Olivos woman received further information from her credit card company that
two purchases, one for $5,942 and the other for $16,953, had been made on the
card from a merchant in Abu Dhabi, a city in the United Arab Emirates. A phone
number associated with the purchase originated in Los Angeles, although she was
unable to provide it to the deputy. The credit card company had reversed the
charges and told the woman to report it to her local sheriff station. A report
was made.
June 13
Unyielding driver
While driving in a marked
sheriff’s vehicle on Highway 246 toward Santa Ynez, a deputy noticed the car in
front of him going 70 miles per hour in the 55 zone.
He turned on his lights and sounded his air horn, but the driver would not
yield and continued at the same speed. The driver turned onto Highway 154 at
about 55 miles per hour and continued until he finally pulled over near the
Santa Ynez Bridge. The Lompoc driver said he did not have a license. He said he
did not think the flashing lights were meant for him to pull over. The two
passengers said they told the driver to pull over, but he did not because he
did not think it was for him. The driver was arrested for failing to obey a
peace officer and unlicensed driving and was taken to the Lompoc jail. The
vehicle was towed.
Lifetime ban
Chumash Casino Security
reported a Santa Maria man who had a lifetime ban against him was trespassing
in the casino. The suspect said he knew he’d been banned and hadn’t been to the
casino in three years and did not know why he came back. The man was cited,
escorted off the property and released.
Sneaky drunkard
Security at a business on
Copenhagen Drive in Solvang heard the back door of the business slam and went
to investigate. He saw an unknown man in the back of the business and yelled at
him to stop because there had been some recent thefts from the back of the
store. The suspect began running and fell. He got up to run and fell again and
the security man apprehended him. The suspect was mumbling to himself and could
not remember his birth date or where he was. The suspect was arrested for being
drunk in public and taken to the Santa Barbara County Jail.
June 6
Driving in the park
Two deputies responded to a
report of a fight. Two intoxicated subjects were seen fighting in a parking lot
before getting in a truck and driving over a curb and up a steep hill in Hans
Christian Andersen Park. Deputies saw the truck trying to drive back up the
hill, as if the driver were trying frantically to leave the park. Deputies
approached the suspects at gun point. Both men, one
from Placentia and the other from Orange, appeared very drunk and admitted to
driving the truck in the park. The man from Orange was wanted on a $35,000
warrant. Both were transported to the Santa Barbara County Jail and booked on
multiple charges.
Punched in the face
While working security at
the Solvang Veterans Hall, two deputies saw a group of people near the front
entrance. A woman said she was dancing with her brother in the hall when a man
started pushing her brother. The brother pushed back, and when the woman tried
to get in between the two, the suspect punched her in the mouth. Her lip was
slightly swollen and cut. Her brother told deputies he had had conflicts with
the suspect in the past because, he thought, they were from different cities in
Mexico. The woman said she was willing to make a citizen’s arrest against the
suspect, though he could not be found.
Stolen beers
A store
owner on Alamo Pintado Road in Solvang noticed a woman walk out of the
store through the entrance carrying a plastic bag. He found it odd and reviewed
surveillance footage, where he saw the woman take two beers from the store
fridge, put them in her plastic bag and leave. The owner went out to the
parking lot where he found the Buellton woman drinking one of the beers. He
told her he knew she stole them and was going to make a citizen’s arrest
against her. The woman told deputies she made a mistake and wanted to pay for
the beer. She said she was going to ask her mother to pay for the beer, but
wouldn’t say why she stole it instead. The woman was cited and released to her
mother.
June 3
Unlicensed with an open container
A deputy pulled a car over
on Fir Street in Solvang when he noticed the license plate light was out. The
Solvang driver was unlicensed. An open bottle of wine was also found under a
car seat. The owner was cited for an open container and the car was towed.