Carpinteria Man Arrested After Allegedly Hitting Elderly Neighbor, Threatening Deputies
Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Team Recovers Loaded Weapons, Ballistic Vest in Arrest
An altercation between a Carpinteria man and his neighbors at Sandpiper Mobile Homes led to the arrest of the man — 52-year-old Pillip Cummings — who allegedly punched an elderly woman in the face before locking himself in his residence, wearing a ballistic vest and making threats to law enforcement officers, saying he was going to grab his loaded gun. Cummings’s girlfriend, 28-year-old Krysta Thompson, was also arrested in connection with the incident, in which she was alleged to have “intruded on the investigation and intimidated the victim,” according to the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office.
The initial incident started on Monday, January 6, when Sheriff’s deputies were called to the mobile homes on Via Real for a reported disturbance. When deputies arrived at the scene, they learned that Cummings was involved in a “verbal altercation” with his elderly neighbor and a construction worker, according to Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Raquel Zick.
This verbal altercation became physical when Cummings allegedly punched the elderly woman in the face and slapped her phone out of her hand. As deputies were investigating, Cummings’s girlfriend arrived, became intrusive, and reportedly attempted to intimidate the elderly woman who had just been hit in the face.
Deputies arrested Thompson at the scene, and she was taken to Santa Barbara Main Jail and booked for felony elder abuse, felony dissuading a witness, and misdemeanor obstruction. She has since been released.
After Thompson was arrested, deputies found that Cummings had returned to his mobile home, where he had locked himself in and refused to come out. According to Zick’s report, Cummings, who at this point was wearing a military-style ballistic vest, would only speak to deputies through a window.
When Cummings told deputies he planned on grabbing his gun, the Sheriff’s deputies decided that it would be in the best interest of public safety to refocus their attention on obtaining an arrest warrant and “developing a plan to take Cummings safely into custody.”
On Wednesday, January 8, the Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Team returned to the mobile homes with a search and arrest warrant for Cummings. Without incident, the enforcement team evacuated nearby residents and took Cummings into custody.
While serving the warrant and taking Cummings into custody, deputies found a loaded handgun, loaded shotgun, and the same ballistic vest he was wearing during the initial incident. Cummings was taken to Santa Barbara’s Main Jail and booked with felony counts of obstruction, threats, elder abuse, and damaging a communication device, along with one misdemeanor count of battery.
According to jail records, Cummings is still being held at Santa Barbara County Jail with a bail of $1 million.
