Anonymous
Source: Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office
The Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant today, July 24, 2019, following extensive complaints of suspected criminal activity in an area located near the Bradley Dip in Orcutt. The past several months, Deputies assigned to the Santa Maria Sheriff’s Station have received reports of illicit drug activity and sales, attempted assaults, theft, and a possible endangered juvenile female in the area of the Okerblom Trail, a County Park.
Partnering with Santa Barbara County Fire, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Santa Barbara County Parks, California Highway Patrol, Santa Barbara Animal Services as well as agency Narcotic Detectives, K-9 teams, Santa Barbara County Sheriff/Fire Air Support and Sheriff’s Crime Scene Technicians, Deputies served a search warrant on two tents that had been illegally erected on Park property, conducted a protective sweep of the area, recovering a large amount of methamphetamine, a scale, drug paraphern alia, pellet guns, bicycles and other items.
30-year-old Matthew Lee Caldwell of Santa Maria was arrested and transported to the Santa Barbara Main Jail where he was booked on the following charges: Felony child endangerment, committing a felony while out on bail, possession of methamphetamine for sale, possession of drug paraphernalia, cultivation of marijuana, unlawful possession of nongame bird parts, outdoor fire for disposal of waste, building a campfire in a hazardous fire area, burning fallen timber/logs without a permit, maintaining or using a campfire on brush or grass covered land without permission, possession of drug or restricted item in public park, and trespassing in a county park.
The female juvenile was taken into the protective custody of Child Welfare Services.
This successful apprehension is due to the information provided by community residents and the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office’s corroborative relationship with our allied agencies.
It is a shame that all the illegal encampments do not get the same treatment. With all their trash, toxic waste and human waste. They ought to all be in the same boat as this guy. Most likely they would also find the drugs and weapons if they tossed all the illegal camps.
He could have found some owl feathers and decorated his homestead.
An endangered juvenile living on public property warrants a visit the day of the report, in my opinion. Do they really need a search warrant to search public property? That is ridiculous.
Whirlybird. duh
….not a scrub jay…and not a Stellar’s either, no such bird. The crested local blue relative of the eastern jay is Steller’s after the German naturalist Georg Steller that discovered it while shipwrecked on an Alaskan island in the 1700 s.
Geez…they even had a bear in the air!
“unlawful possession of nongame bird parts” – was he eating pigeons or something?
Last Friday evening, as I got on the Garden St. onramp heading north on the 101, there were several people coming out of the bushes at different points heading somewhere across the highway or on the highway. It was like an obstacle course trying to avoid them. Some walking, some on bikes. Heading to homeless camps. Why won’t any agency (caltrans, county, city) do something about these camps? Everything they are doing (on the highway, setting up camps, campfires, etc. etc. ) is illegal. The solution is not affordable housing. I support that but for families who are here already. These vagabonds need to be forced out of our highways, landscaping, and railroad tracks so it will be safe for families and the rest of us.