Michael Jon Helman, 47, was arrested on 2/1 after allegedly publicly masturbating, driving naked, evading arrest, and committing two counts of assault with a deadly weapon for reportedly trying to run over police officers with his car. A witness called 911 just past 1 p.m. to report a naked man standing in the street at Alamar and Foothill Road in the middle of a lewd and solo act. Authorities eventually located and arrested Helman on La Cumbre Hills Road. As of press time, Helman — who had been sentenced to 270 days in jail in 2007 for threatening a Ventura County prosecutor — was being held without bail.
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As they wrapped up seven different drug investigations, narcotics detectives from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department arrested 23 people at various locations around the county last week. The largest score for detectives occurred in Summerland, where they arrested three people in possession of a pound of methamphetamine and $3,000 in cash. One of the arrestees was referred to U.S. Immigrations and Customs enforcement for immigration violations.
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Following a 1/26 report to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department by a 17-year-old girl who said she had been molested when she was younger, deputies arrested a Goleta man. He was reportedly found to be in possession of graphic photos of his victim taken at the time specified in the report. The man was booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail on charges of sexual abuse of a minor and possession of child pornography.
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State and county law enforcement officials conducted an Automatic Prohibited Persons System (APPS) operation on 1/27 aimed at locating and contacting people listed in a database as being prohibited to own or possess firearms. Authorities contacted 17 people, confiscating eight firearms. The APPS database contains the names of people convicted of certain crimes — including firearm offenses — addicted to narcotics, or found by a court to have mental disabilities.