Law and Disorder 8-21
Santa Barbara resident Michael Patrick Mahoney, 51, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs agents on 8/16 at Los Angeles International Airport on charges that he intended to travel to Bangkok to have sex with children. Posing as a travel guide, a federal agent reportedly responded to a craigslist.org ad Mahoney had placed seeking such sexual encounters. At an 8/18 hearing, U.S. Magistrate Charles Eick set Mahoney’s bond at $100,000. He could face up to 30 years in prison.
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Santa Barbara Police have arrested a man they believe is responsible for an 8/17 stabbing that put a man in Cottage Hospital’s intensive care unit. Police say Kenneth Sterling, Sr. -who owns the property where the stabbing occurred on the 1800 block of San Andres Street and who reportedly was uncooperative when officers arrived on the scene-was seen washing a knife in his kitchen while paramedics were attending to the victim. Later, on 8/18, the victim told police that it was Sterling who stabbed him. (/stabbing821)
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The trial of Peter Jeschke, the former Santa Barbara High School tennis coach accused of having sex with a 16-year-old girl on his team, has been pushed back to October as a result of Jeschke switching attorneys. While Santa Barbara attorney Allen Bifano argued for the defense during Jeschke’s preliminary hearing, further proceedings will feature defense lawyer Lara Yerestian, of the Los Angeles law firm Gerragos & Gerragos, best known for representing Winona Ryder, Michael Jackson, and Scott Peterson. (/jeschke821)
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Beau Robertson was sentenced to eight years and four months in state prison for driving under the influence, two counts of vehicular manslaughter, and three counts of injury that took place in a car accident last year. It was an emotional afternoon in the courtroom on 8/18, where relatives of the Robertson’s two deceased passengers made statements calling on Judge George Eskin for both mercy and vengeance in his sentencing. (/dui821)
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Ashley Johnigan, the 23-year-old Santa Barbara woman accused of driving under the influence and killing crime investigator Laura Cleaves in a 5/1 wreck on Highway 154, pled not guilty in a Santa Maria courtroom on 8/18. Because Cleaves worked for the District Attorney, the Attorney General’s office is prosecuting Johnigan, who is scheduled to be in court next on 9/17.
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As a result of the federal government’s ongoing crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries in the City of Santa Barbara, cannabis supporters have organized a march for noon on 8/27. Organizer Mark Russell, who founded the clothing brand I Am Not a Criminal, invites supporters of medical marijuana and state rights to travel from the dolphin statue at the bottom of State Street up to the County Courthouse’s Sunken Gardens.
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A domestic disturbance at a residence on the 400 block of East Anapamu Street on 8/15 ended with attending officers Tasering a suicidal man who was brandishing a knife and also shooting a dog that had bitten one officer. The man was arrested; the dog, which survived, was taken into custody by Animal Control. (/dogshot)
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Santa Barbara County fire crews acted quickly on 8/14 to stop a natural gas leak caused by a backhoe used in replacing water pipes beneath the 6500 block of Isla Vista’s Pardall Road. Fire crews evacuated Pardall to reduce the chance of someone igniting the fuel. The main had been adequately patched within 90 minutes of the fire crew’s arrival, though some nearby businesses were not able to reopen immediately because gas service had not been restored. (/pardallgasleak)
