Edhat Staff
Source: Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office
Detectives from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office arrested freelance photographer Zachary Warburg yesterday after a months-long investigation culminated in a warrant for his arrest. The warrant included charges of communicating with a minor with intent to commit sex crimes or other felonies, possession of child pornography and sending harmful material to a minor with intent of sexual gratification.
The investigation began when a Sheriff’s Office School Resource Deputy (SRD) assigned to San Marcos High School was notified by a student that Warburg was attempting inappropriate communications with her of a sexual nature. The SRD opened an investigation into the allegations, and soon uncovered several instances of suspicious, lewd and suspected criminal behavior occurring between Warburg and minor female students at local area high schools and junior high schools, as well as out of the area.
In June of 2018, the investigation was turned over to the Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division. The investigation revealed numerous victims, and a pattern of alleged criminal behavior where Warburg contacted under-aged and minor females either in person or through various social media platforms. Warburg would then solicit illegal sexual acts, or solicit or send illegal sexually explicit images. Search warrants also revealed that Warburg was in possession of child pornography.
Warburg was booked on a complaint warrant, which included several counts of the following charges alleged against numerous victims: 288(a) PC, 311.11 (a) PC, 288.3(a) PC, 288.2 (a)(2) PC, 664/289(h) PC, 136.1(b)(1) PC, and 664/288.3(a) PC.
Sheriff’s detectives have interviewed numerous victims; however, there may be others who have not been contacted. If you have any information about these allegations or have information that may lead to the discovery of other victims, you are urged to call the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Bureau at 805-681-4150.
Wow Holy! You just never know!
His photos were always on Noozhawk. Wonder if was an employee? Interesting that he always took photos of police and firefighters, maybe he thought he wouldn’t get caught or that his buddies would protect him.
Shamea Barbara.
He was a wannabe journalist, a stringer of sorts. Mostly seemed to get in people’s way but did donate photography to non-profits. Was always a bit arrogant and rude at times. Glad the cops didn’t give him any leniency.
One thing Cops and Cons have in common they don’t like Creeps he was very arrogant.
he was a trauma junkie… didn’t actually get paid for his photos, just followed law enforcement and fire as a hobby. He had a scanner in his car and portable he’d wear on his waist and bought his own turnout gear as well I believe. By all outward appearances he was a good guy (up until the subject matter at hand.)
“By all outward appearances he was a good guy” — famous last words
Kudos to the SMHS student for being brave enough to speak up and to the Resource Deputy for believing her and investigating.
BORNAT: Not trying to shame you, but “phenomena” is the plural form of “phenomenon.” In which case you’d be writing “there are phenomena.” Why not just write ” recurring circumstance?” As for the rest of what you wrote: I disagree. What this man is accused of constitutes sexual abuse. It doesn’t have to be physical to be abusive behavior.
SBOBSERVER: I imply, you infer.
Was this crime reported to this School Resource Deputy who I believe might have been a Santa Barbara Police Officer at that time…?
I knew him and promise you that he was not “by all outward appearances a good guy” – talk to any woman who knew him and you hear about how much of a creep he was. I think he “graduated” to going after minors after trying and failing to victimize older, less naive women.
Hope that the piece of garbage was arrested before he ever actually touched anyone! Very glad the student was brave and helped put a stop to his behavior, protecting herself and other girls!
Could be useful for our community to step back and attempt to understand how Zach got off track. Until we desire to understand how things happen upstream, we will continue to have to deal with things downstream. I understand how upsetting this is, and anger is an appropriate response.
More importantly, this guy is not a pièce of garbage in my view. God doesn’t make junk. We’re all good at our core, we simply make terrible mistakes. We won’t get anywhere without understanding that we are all good at our core. A hardened heart can’t offer any compassion or healing. We’re all in this together!
Would you say the same thing if he was a person of colorful? Doubtful. America is quick to condemn anyone who’s black or brown who commits the same crime, but a young white guy.. “oh he needs help.”
I don’t think its just our community. I think its our whole society. Media and culture pushes images of very young girls as the pinnacle of beauty and sexual desirability. When you push fashion that encourages every woman who can to look like pubescent teenagers, you have songs about having sex with teenagers (she was just, 17, you know what I mean… to name a classic and socially accepted song), and you have laws forbidding these acts but at the same time you allow the very rich and elite to get away with this sort of thing all the time… Well, lets just say that we create a confusing double standard of the desirable but forbidden maiden. Keep in mind that the majority of pregnant teenaged girls were impregnated by men over 20. It’s a problem that’s swept under the rug and not faced within our community that we need to address societally.
shorebird: Wondering if you would have gotten the point if I wrote back and said I was a female who had experienced abuse? You’re missing the point, which is that if there is an intention to attempt to address trouble like this as a community, it may yield good things for everyone involved. I’m not saying that Zach shouldn’t be brought to justice. The point is to try to address thèse things with an eye on prévention, rather than simply trashing the offender. I am a 70 year old mâle who knows many, many women who have been abused in their lives. Of course it’s not right. What’s right is, when possible, taking the expérience and trying to address the reasons thèse things happen so that they won’t happen in the future. Our théologies differ: the God I believe in gives us free will, to use as we see fit. Zach got off the right road and made bad choices, and he will pay for that. From there, what can we do as a community to attempt to keep the same thing from happening in the future. Calling people garbage and blaming our God doesn’t do us any good.
Wow, so many of you are so quick to get your pitchforks, tar and feathers… Let’s just say for a minute that this young lady they are talking about is 17 going on 18. At 17 she is a minor, at 18 she is an adult. Does that change things for you people? I dont know this guy but he looks pretty young. So its not that crazy to think he still hangs out with HS students if he’s 20. Please dont jump all over me, I am just bringing up the point that our laws are based on age and the difference between 17 and 18 is tiny. In fact, I’d wager that most of your grandparents were married at 18 or less! Anyway you look at it, the shaming of people on the web is a shameful, disgusting practice that shows how little we’ve evolved as a society and a community.
He was a very good photographer. Very sad. Very brave young girl.
Really SBobserver?? He’s a man in his 30’s trolling junior high and high school and has child pornography. Jr High. That’s 11-13 years old. DISGUSTING! Stop sticking up for the guy, he knows better.
Sad because he was a mediocre photographer? Let’s switch the discussion for these poor children who were affected by his sick behavior.
Called: let me guess. You’re not a female who has been the victim of a violent predator? Ever sexual attack on a minor is, at a minimum, a violent psychological attack. So congrats to your god for causing this guy to destroy the lives of children.
umm, poster said he was ‘a good photographer’, not ‘mediocre’ so let’s get that straight. I am sure the poster is ‘sad’ because of the circumstance. and, as a working photographer, i second the accolade, his photos are quite good.
Seriously, there’s a phenomena on here to shame and accuse and it’s gets pretty absurd in this forum. Read carefully, an investigation was launched in June 2018, about 9 months ago. This is typical SB investigative behavior. There wasn’t much there at the time to indict so instead of getting in touch with the accused to see what was going on, they let the activity, or alleged activity continue to the point charges were made. IF the accused was doing something so horrific at the time the investigation was started, he’d have been pulled immediately but that wasn’t the case so they let time go, probably did some baiting, etc and here ya go, FRONT PAGE news story for little SB. Doesn’t sound like sex was involved, or rape, just some back and forth between a photog and potential subjects. In SB, this is what you get for being ‘suspicous’ or ‘lewd’.
Where was this School Resource Deputy when Paul Walker was dating a 16 year old in town when he was 33? That has always bothered me. Did we let him get away with that as a society because he was a celebrity?
Art is subjective.. I think he’s a mediocre photographer and is overrated. I also think he’s a predator.
So.. the Sheriff’s office put more young girls at risk to build a better case with more evidence against this guy. Awesome.
Born@cottage— you’re a man right? I mean.. pretty obvious by the way you diminished the victims and backup the perp.
SB I find most comments here to be nothing more than virtue signaling .
Don’t switch the subject: Predators of all shades hit on victims of all shades. Some show a preference for their own race, some don’t. Whether it’s oil-field workers raping Alaskan Native Americans or men flying to Thailand to buy 8-year-olds, it’s flat wrong.