Long-range plans to reboot the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office’s payroll system and decommission the South County jail aligned with recommendations from a recent grand jury report. During its Aug. 25 meeting, the county Board of Supervisors discussed the report titled: “What’s up with overtime in the Sheriff’s Office?” “The sheriff’s overtime excesses have been […]
arrests
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Sheriff’s Office pins timecard arrests to increased oversight
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 […]
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Local advocates concerned about what the recent surge in ICE arrests on the Central Coast means for 2026
The last few days of 2025 were very different than the rest of the year when it came to immigration enforcement on the Central Coast. An estimated 147 arrests were made in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties over a four-day period at the end of December, according to 805 UndocuFund Executive Director Primitiva […]
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Recent ICE arrests in Santa Maria draw criticism from immigration rights advocates
After asking to see the warrant for her husband’s arrest, a woman in Santa Maria was handed an insurance claim for the car window ICE agents broke to apprehend him, 805 UndocuFund volunteer Michelle Ambriz-Quintero told the Sun. A member of 805 UndocuFund’s rapid response team, Ambriz-Quintero was alerted on Nov. 16 about an Immigrations […]
