Arrested in early August, Jeffrey Koeller is the second Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office employee to face embezzlement charges this year.
Both Koeller and Segun Ogunleye—arrested in late January—worked for the Sheriff’s Office as custody sergeants, and were charged for fraudulently claiming and receiving earnings of $93,000 and $175,000, respectively, for hours they did not work.
“There’s nothing worse for a police officer or a deputy sheriff to be working with somebody who’s committing a crime,” Santa Barbara County Undersheriff Brad Welch told the Board of Supervisors during its Aug. 18 hearing.
Welch approached the podium after 1st District Supervisor Roy Lee pulled an administrative item from the consent agenda: specifically, an overtime analysis update from the Sheriff’s Office.
In February, the board directed the county Office of the Auditor-Controller to provide monthly overtime reports for the Sheriff’s Office due to a trend of increasing costs associated with Sheriff’s Office employee salaries and overtime pay.
Lee said he pulled the August report to highlight a decrease in the Sheriff’s Office’s use of overtime hours—from an average of 794 hours per pay period between July 2025 and December 2025 to 409 hours per pay period between January and June this year.
Second District Supervisor Laura Capps asked Welch if he believed the investigation into Koeller’s fraudulent time cards resulted from the Board of Supervisors’ expanded oversight.
“Just so I understand, the extra scrutiny that has happened over the last year-plus has led to this arrest?” Capps asked Welch. “Would you agree that that has been the sequence of events?”
“Absolutely,” Welch replied. “We would catch that in the future if, heaven forbid, this ever occurred again.
“By no means does this one individual’s actions and behavior reflect the amazing work that our sheriff’s employees do on a daily basis,” Welch added. “Everybody comes in and works their tail off day and night, so this one individual does not reflect the great work that they do.”
According to a release from the Sheriff’s Office, Koeller’s arrest on Aug. 6 followed an investigation of more than 600 time cards that contained overtime entries. The release states that those time cards fell under scrutiny after Ogunleye’s arrest on Jan. 29.
A separate release describes the investigation into Ogunleye’s fraudulent behavior beginning in October 2025. About a month prior, the Board of Supervisors asked the Auditor-Controller’s office to begin conducting “an audit of time sheets, including coding and accounting practices, for both custody and patrol deputies in the Sheriff’s Office,” according to a county staff report.
“I can tell you that it’s very rare that a member of the Sheriff’s Office or the county family is accused of committing crimes,” Undersheriff Welch told the Board of Supervisors. “There’s only a handful I can think of in the last 27 years, but I can tell you that under the direction of this sheriff, if it’s pointed out, we will investigate it thoroughly. And if warranted, we will prosecute them to the absolute fullest extent of the law.”
Capps said that she appreciated Welch’s response, shortly before the board voted 5-0 to accept and file the August report.
“I understand the ripple effect it has on a team to understand that behavior was occurring, but I appreciate the forthrightness that you bring to this conversation,” Capps told Welch. “And the results speak for themselves. I appreciate the continued work that this takes and understanding that there’s some more work to be done.”
This article appears in August 20 – August 27, 2026.
