Santa Barbara Government Official Retires, Goes to Jail After Helping Girlfriend Hide from Cops

Earlier this month, Kent Epperson, a longtime department leader for the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, announced his retirement. 

“It is with mixed emotions that I have decided to retire from SBCAG and explore other career paths and adventures that I have contemplated for some time,” he wrote in an email to colleagues. “My last day in the office will be this Thursday, January 11.”

The following day, after a short court hearing during which he pleaded guilty to felony “accessory after the fact,” bailiffs led Epperson away in handcuffs to county jail, where he will spend the next five weeks. That’s on top of the six weeks he was in custody this fall for the same crime ― helping his fugitive girlfriend evade police.

Epperson repeatedly lied to and misled investigators about Kim Vandyk’s whereabouts for over a year after she skipped bail, officials said, going so far as building her a “hideout room” in his house and buying her a campervan so she could stay on the move.

Vandyk — a ukulele teacher who, like Epperson, was a regular participant in Santa Barbara’s Summer Solstice parades — pleaded guilty this month to her own felony charges of conspiracy and fraud. The counts were related to a six-year scam she perpetrated to avoid foreclosure on her home. She was sentenced to just under a year in jail and two years of formal probation. 

Officials identified both Vandyk and Epperson as “sovereign citizens,” meaning they “do not believe that the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office or Santa Barbara Superior Court have any legal power over them,” investigators said. Both have declined media requests for comment.

The hearing was an ignominious end to Epperson’s lengthy career at SBCAG, where he served as director of traffic solutions for 21 years. In that role and as a cycling advocate he created public campaigns that encouraged residents to bike more and drive less, collaborating with large organizations like Downtown Santa Barbara and UCSB and spearheading popular programs such as CycleMAYnia and the Open Streets Initiative. 

By the end of his tenure with SBCAG, Epperson was taking home an annual salary of $124,000. It appears his felony conviction won’t have much, if any, impact on his retirement benefits, as he stepped down shortly before he signed his plea deal.

Epperson’s arrest and prosecution has been an awkward and embarrassing episode for SBCAG, given how he was charged with intentionally deceiving another county government agency. The senior prosecutor in the case, Brian Cota, said the District Attorney’s Office was in direct contact with SBCAG about that issue.

“After Epperson’s arrest,” Cota said, “our office did reach out to SBCAG to express our concerns that Epperson … a person in a senior management position with SBCAG, and who’s salary and budget is paid, in part, with funding from the County of Santa Barbara … was actively hindering the investigation and apprehension of a fugitive.”

Epperson’s conduct, Cota continued, “caused unnecessary expenditure of County of Santa Barbara public funds.” The District Attorney’s Office “felt that his behavior was unbecoming of a public employee in Epperson’s position and with his experience,” Cota said.

When DA investigators would confront Epperson about Vandyk and warn him about the penalties for hiding a wanted person, they said in their report, he would respond that he did not “understand” them because sovereign citizens “believe the word ‘understand’ means they ‘stand under’ you and your authority.’” The investigators finally nabbed Vandyk by placing a tracking device on Epperson’s Prius and following him to a rendezvous with her at Tucker’s Grove.

Meanwhile, Epperson is also currently suing SBCAG for religious discrimination. He claims that after he declined to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds, he was forced to work from home and then temporarily demoted. He’s seeking approximately $100,000 in lost wages. 

Epperson will be placed on two years of probation when he’s released from jail next month. SBCAG declined to comment on either his conviction or his pending lawsuit.

In their case against Vandyk, prosecutors outlined how she’d stopped paying the mortgage on her $1.2 million Foothill Road home but remained living in it for more than six years years by “creating fraudulent schemes and conspiring with others to hinder, delay, and prevent the lawful foreclosure on the property.” They also detailed her open and ongoing hostility toward Santa Barbara’s justice system.

Earlier this month, Vandyk spoke from jail to a probation officer about her plans after release. She said she wanted to continue living her “amazing beautiful life” and create a program to support homeless people. “People in the system need help and me and Kent want to help them,” she said. 

Vandyk expressed an interest in “doing good” going forward and said she’d been “exploring God and the Bible.” She insisted she was not a “criminal mind” and said she regretted her actions, mainly because she would “now be known as a convicted felon.”

The probation officer said in their report: “Although the defendant states good intentions with regard to helping others and the homeless upon her release from custody, the degree of her disregard for the court and the law as displayed throughout this case is egregious.”