June 21

Car vandalism

Two juveniles were reported writing graffiti on a car on Ringsted Drive in Solvang. A deputy apprehended the subjects when they tried to flee. The vandalized car was completely covered with vulgar words, phrases and drawings in yellow and purple. Both subjects said they and the owner of the car are all students at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School, and they wanted to get back at the car owner because she was mean and controlling. Both juveniles were cited with vandalism and released to their fathers.

 

June 20

Unable to care for himself

Deputies responded to reports of a man cussing at people near Sunny Field Park. They found the Solvang man standing in a farm field across from the park. The deputies saw the man pulling up the irrigation lines in the field and whipping them against the ground. When told to come speak with the deputies, the suspect yelled “No!” and then ran away to a residence on Alamo Pintado Road. The suspect then called the sheriff dispatch and told them he was in the house, he wouldn’t come out and the deputies should leave his property. Then he opened a window to speak with deputies. The house was in disrepair, and when asked why the front porch smelled of urine, the suspect said he urinated there “to keep deer and coyotes away.” Deputies noted he appeared to be in a “paranoid frenzy,” and one deputy said he’d had prior contact with the man for making threats against people. After getting it cleared from a senior deputy, three deputies entered the residence through a broken window to take the man into custody for resisting a peace officer. Once inside, deputies ordered the suspect to come to them, and when he started to retreat, a deputy deployed a Taser dart into his arm. The suspect was taken into custody and transported to the Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital where he was medically cleared prior to booking. Adult Protective Services was also notified as it appeared the man could not care for himself.

 

June 16

Drunk driving and uncooperative

Deputies responded to Pepperwood Way and Fjord Drive in Solvang after a report of street racing. When they got there, they saw a woman crying in the driver’s seat of a car parked nearly three feet from the curb. When asked why she parked like that, the woman said “It won’t drive anymore,” and deputies then saw both front tires were completely deflated. When asked why the tires were flat, the woman responded, “I think it’s because it needs an oil change.” She appeared drunk. The Buellton woman could not find her license and refused to give information about where she had been or where she was going, and she refused to hand over her car keys. When asked to perform a series of field sobriety tests, the woman said, “Why can’t you be chill like other cops and let me go?” The woman, who was under the legal age to drink, failed the tests and agreed to a breathalyzer test, but then began crying heavily and refused to blow into the device properly. Eventually, she blew a .15 percent BAC. She was booked into the Lompoc jail for drunk driving. Later that night, a deputy searched the scene and found vehicle marks impacting the curb, continuing onto the grass and grazing a tree while making a large, sweeping turn back onto the roadway.

 

Bounced check

A store manager on Mission Drive in Solvang reported a suspect tried to pass a check from a closed bank account. The suspect, from San Luis Obispo, wrote a check for $150 from an account that has been closed for more than a year. The man said he did not know his account had been closed, but when told his account had been closed since February 2008, the man admitted he knew it’d been closed. He said he needed the money because he owed someone a debt.

 

June 14

No more Red Rock fun

A deputy pulled a car over when he saw the driver using her cell phone and noticed a tail light broken. The Lompoc woman driver was driving because the owner of the vehicle and another passenger were too drunk to drive. The driver and owner said they’d been drinking at Red Rock. The driver said she did not have a license because it had been suspended a month earlier, but said she was the only person sober and pleaded with the deputy to not cite her.  When asked if there was any alcohol in the car, the woman gave the deputy a near-empty gallon bottle of vodka, and the deputy later found four cans of beer as well. The deputy also found a bag full of pills in the woman’s purse. The woman said she bought them in Santa Barbara from various people and was trying to kick her “Oxy” habit as she was concerned the drugs could have a negative effect on her trying to maintain custody of her child. The woman and the car owner were each cited and released.

 

June 11

Cabin burglary

A Santa Barbara man reported a burglary of cabins in the Los Padres National Forest. The man said when he got to his cabin, he noticed the door had been kicked and a panel broken out of it. Inside, a pellet rifle, sleeping bag and pillow had been stolen and other items rifled through. There were other guns in the cabin that were in plain sight that had not been taken, however. The next cabin over also appeared to have been broken into, and there were beer bottles outside that were not his. Items inside that cabin also seemed to be disturbed. The Santa Barbara man and owner of the second cabin were both provided with case number information.