Aug. 15
Man flees the scene At 4:30 a.m. Sheriff’s deputies responded to Highway 101, south of Highway 154 to assist the California Highway Patrol locate a suspect associated with a stolen vehicle. Upon arrival, the deputy learned there had been a vehicle rollover. A FedEx truck driver told them he’d stopped to help the driver but didn’t see anyone in or around the vehicle. The CHP conducted a DMV computer check and learned it was stolen out of Santa Maria and wanted assistance in locating the vehicle. A deputy brought his K-9, Betti, out to sniff the driver’s seat of the wrecked vehicle for human scent and narcotics. The K-9 pulled him toward an area where a CHP had later seen a man, dressed in dark clothing and carrying a backpack, walking north on the southbound shoulder. At 8 a.m. dispatch advised the deputies that an off-duty CHP officer saw the subject limping and attempting to hitch-hike near the northbound shoulder of Highway 101, just north of Highway 154. The man was detained and taken to the Buellton CHP office. The deputy spoke to the man, who said that after the rollover, he headed northbound in the center median at first and then ran across the highway to the southbound shoulder before turning back toward Buellton. He then went down the hillside near the highway and fell asleep. He could not explain why he’d left the vehicle. The deputy’s report did not indicate whether he was involved in the car theft.
Aug. 18
Make some noise – or don’t
At 10:38 p.m. a deputy was dispatched to the 7000 block of Figueroa Mountain Road on a report of a loud party. The reporting party said at 9:30 p.m. a wedding party next door became loud with music and heavy bass. He said the loud music was an ongoing issue and disturbing and he was willing to sign a citizen’s arrest form. The deputy called the property manager who had just been at the property with a decibel meter, which registered 47. But she said she would ask the DJ to turn the music down. On Aug. 25 at 9:38 p.m. a deputy responded to another report of a loud party. The neighbors turned the music down and the reporting neighbor expressed gratitude, but he called an hour later saying the music had been turned back on. The property manager again showed him an image of a decibel reading showing the music was unusually high.
Aug. 20
Unlocked vehicle
At 5:50 p.m. a Solvang man called the Sheriff’s Department to report that his truck had been burglarized. He said he parked his unlocked vehicle at 9 a.m. in front of his residence and returned a few hours later and noticed his door open. Someone had rummaged through his glove compartment and had taken his $200 cellular phone. He didn’t know who might have stolen his phone. The deputy advised him to call his phone company to have the device disconnected. He also advised the man to make sure to lock his car doors when he wasn’t using it.
Aug. 24
Couldn’t fake it
Deputies responded to a report of a man with a lazy eye and dressed in all black passing a counterfeit bill at a brewery in Solvang. The deputy immediately recognized the man’s description as matching that of a subject who passed a counterfeit $100 bill at Greenhouse Café on Aug. 12. The man had reportedly entered the brewery with a real $10 and $20 bill but sandwiched the other $20 bill to conceal it as a counterfeit. He exchanged the bills for a $50 and left. After the bartender learned that the bill was fake, another employee followed the man, who was jogging north along the sidewalk toward Solvang School. The male employee told deputies he quietly walked up to the man, who was ducked down between two cars, and tried to get him in a headlock. He released when he felt the man squeeze his crotch. He told him to stay there and started calling 911 when the man fled. Deputies later found the man at a nearby hotel. A witness saw him duck into some bushes on the west end of the hotel. Deputies responded with K-9, Betti, who found the man hiding in a bush at the bottom of a run-off creek. Deputies detained him at gunpoint. They noticed he had dried blood inside his nostrils and a large scrape on the left side of his nose. Of the incident, the man said he was attacked by a man who claimed to be a police officer. He said he ran because he feared for his safety. When he was confronted with surveillance video showing him hand the bartender the fake bill, the man responded: “I’m a drug addict, OK?” and said people had put him up to passing the fake money. He refused to talk further until a lawyer was present.
Aug. 29
In hot pursuit
A Santa Barbara man was arrested after leading deputies and California Highway Patrol officers on a pursuit that started in Montecito and ended in the Santa Ynez Valley. The chase started after a Sheriff’s sergeant attempted to pull over a silver-colored Toyota pick-up truck that was driving in Montecito without its headlights on. Instead of stopping, the vehicle sped up, taking law enforcement through Santa Barbara. Deputies attempted a “pursuit intervention technique” maneuver to halt the vehicle, but the man was able to continue driving and get back on Highway 101 freeway and exited at Highway 154 near Armour Ranch Road. The CHP had laid out a spike strip to disable the truck, but the man kept driving, even though three of his tires were punctured from the strip. The suspect turned onto the Chumash Indian Reservation and came to a stop after losing a portion of the vehicle’s right tire. He immediately surrendered to deputies and was safely taken into custody. No one was hurt during the incident. The man, 40, was booked into county jail and faces felony charges of recklessly evading law enforcement without due regard for the safety of others. He also had outstanding San Luis Obispo felony warrants.
Aug. 30
Body identified
The body of a male subject was found at 8:15 a.m. in the lake area of the Alisal Guest Ranch. Sheriff’s Office detectives, coroner investigators, and members of the dive team responded to recover the decedent. The man was identified as Kurt Brimberry of San Marino, who went missing on Aug. 18 after his vehicle smashed into a tree in the 2500 block of Alisal Road. The exact cause of death is still under investigation and may take several weeks to determine.