A former Santa Barbara bail agent is behind bars without bond on felony charges of stalking and “rape by impersonation” after an ex-girlfriend accused him of “manipulating her to have sex with him under false pretenses,” police said.
Sean Wilczak, 30, is being prosecuted under a special section of the California penal code that targets defendants who allegedly deceived their victims. The 2013 state law was drafted and championed by former State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson and District Attorney Joyce Dudley after a previous Santa Barbara offender walked free.
Wilczak has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
According to the arrest affidavit in the case, the victim told detectives she had been in a prior dating relationship with Wilczak and that he had been actively stalking her by “following her to different locations around Santa Barbara and making her feel uncomfortable.”
During the same period, the victim said, Wilczak created a fake online dating profile to coerce her into having sex at an Airbnb. “Wilczak set the condition that [the victim] wear a blindfold during intercourse and she agreed,” the affidavit states.
“[The victim] only agreed to this arrangement because she believed ‘LuxMentor’ was a stranger, not Wilczak,” police said. After Wilczak left the Airbnb, he called the victim to tell her he was in fact “LuxMentor.”
The day after the victim filed her police report, she began receiving numerous calls from a blocked number she believed belonged to Wilczak, who also began making threatening calls to her friends.
Detectives tracked Wilczak to a State Street restaurant and took him into custody, also charging him witness harassment. He was booked in County Jail with a judge denying him bail, citing the seriousness of the accusations and other pending felony charges against him.
Wilczak was previously arrested in 2022 for grand theft after he allegedly stole $25,000 from three of his bail clients. The California Department of Insurance said he had been illegally operating under an unregistered business name, Wolf Bail Bonds, and had pocketed cash given to him by families trying to get their relatives out of jail.
The state agency revoked Wilczak’s license and said Santa Barbara prosecutors would oversee the criminal side of the case, which remains ongoing. Court records show Wilczak faces insurance fraud charges in the same matter. They also show he is involved in multiple active restraining orders, both as a petitioner and as a defendant.
Wilczak will be back in court June 24 for a bail review hearing.
