On Sept. 20, marking what would’ve been Rebecca Vegas’s 57th birthday, her surviving family members gathered at a cemetery plot in Lompoc to remember the good times, placing flowers and writing a message on a balloon before letting it drift away into the clouds.
The following day, Vegas’s widowed husband Dan Vegas, Jr., a retired Air Force veteran, sat against a wall near the back of a Santa Maria courtroom as lawyers discussed with a judge the next step for the teenage girl accused of causing his wife’s death.
“She was a beautiful woman,” Dan said of his wife. “She was just always there. She knew how to comfort people all the time, no matter what. She made life really easy.”
Described as kind hearted, family oriented, and a loving mother, Becky, as she was known, was born and raised in Lompoc and had three grown sons and seven grandchildren, all younger than 12. At the time of her death, she was busy preparing to care for her own elderly mother, Rose, and was planning a wedding for her eldest son.
Her daughter-in-law Fina Vaca, with whom Becky lived, said her mother-in-law was well known throughout the community as a warm and compassionate person.
“Mom had a lot of adopted sons, let’s put it that way,” Vaca said. “All her boys’ longtime friends, they called her ‘Mom’ too, and we would always have tamale night, or we would get together at the holidays and have masa parties.
“We had a lot of stuff to look forward to in our lives,” she continued. “We were at a great point, and things were looking on the up and up.”
Tragically, all that came to an end on May 13. Vegas was on her way back to Your Place or Mine in Lompoc, where she tended bar and enjoyed lending an ear to her patrons, helping them with their problems.
It was after 8 p.m., and Vegas’ shift had ended. She had been playing cards at the bar with her sister and friends when she got hungry and went out for a bite to eat. Upon her return, while walking in a crosswalk at the intersection of West Ocean Avenue and J Street, she was struck by an oncoming car and later succumbed to her injuries.
“It was beyond a shock,” Vaca said of hearing the news. “We were just devastated.”
Police later identified the driver of the vehicle as 18-year-old Lacey Strange, daughter of Lompoc police sergeant Chuck Strange. Lompoc police on the scene reported no alcohol or drug involvement, but looked into the possibility Strange might have been texting on her cell phone near the time of the accident.
The department and the California Highway Patrol forwarded the results of their joint inquiry to the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office. After a months-long investigation, on Aug. 26 the D.A. charged Lacey Strange with one misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter. The charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in county jail, up to five years of probation, and the possible suspension of driver’s license privileges for up to one year.
According to the complaint against Strange, the D.A. contends the young woman killed Vegas “lawfully and without malice” when she failed to properly yield the right of way at the crosswalk.
Strange has yet to enter a plea in a court of law. She was scheduled to do so at her preliminary hearing on Sept. 14 in front of Lompoc Judge James Iwasko, but because of the nature of the case and his familiarity with the parties involved, Iwasko recused himself, and the matter was automatically transferred to Santa Maria. The prosecution, defense, and Vegas’s family then joined in a stipulation requesting the court hear the case in Santa Barbara, where ties to the defendant’s family could be less likely.
At the Sept. 21 hearing, both sides appeared in front of Judge John McGregor, requesting the case to be moved, but the judge denied the motion. McGregor said, however, that the motion could be renewed, and assigned the case to Judge Patricia Kelly, with a hearing scheduled for Oct. 11 in Santa Maria.
Santa Barbara County Deputy District Attorney Chris Linz, the lead prosecutor in the case, refused to address details of the complaint against Strange, but did say she was considering refiling a motion with Judge Kelly to transfer the case to Santa Barbara “I have an ethical responsibility not to make comment other than the procedural posture of the case, as well as the charge,” Linz said.
Strange’s attorney, Catherine Swynsen, did not return calls from the Sun for comment as of press time.
Vegas’s daughter-in-law Vaca said the Vegas family would have nothing more to say about the case until after the trial—assuming there is one.
“We’re not vindictive. We have no ill will,” she said. “We just really want justice and for the law to prevail on this.”
Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas can be contacted at jthomas@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 6, 2011.