Spring Sing
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Westmont students to perform at Santa Barbara Bowl - A3
Country and folk singer-songwriter Tom Russell to perform at Lobero - B1
Our 167th Year
RAIN TOTALS
Santa Barbara County Building
YESTERDAY..........................59” 0.00” SEASON TOTAL ...................33.88” 0.00” 751.49 CACHUMA LAKE LEVEL ....000.00
75¢
T H U R SDAY, M A RC H 3 0 , 2 023
Firefighters hit by minivan Gaviota collision leads to closure of southbound Highway 101 and back up on State Route 154
Defendant in parental kidnapping case pleads not guilty By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
A woman charged with kidnapping her 1-year-old daughter from county services and leading police on a chase through Santa Barbara while driving under the influence of alcohol pleaded not guilty Monday during her arraignment. Sandra Tapia, 39, of Canoga Park, is charged with child stealing, child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death and evading an officer with willful disregard, all felonies. The child stealing charges alleges that she “did unlawfully, maliciously, and not having right of custody, take away, entice, detain and conceal minor child … with intent then and there to detain and conceal such minor child from the person having the lawful charge of such child.” Ms. Tapia also is charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, and driving while having
a .08% or higher blood alcohol level, both misdemeanors. Law enforcement arrested her March 23 on suspicion of parental kidnapping of a baby after a pursuit on southbound Highway 101. Close to 11 a.m. March 23, deputies responded to the area of Santa Barbara County Social Services on Camino Del Remedio to the report of a parental kidnapping that had just occurred, Raquel Zick, public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, said. Deputies spotted the suspect fleeing the area in her Audi SUV on Calle Real at Camino Del Remedio, where they attempted to stop the vehicle. Ms. Tapia failed to yield and led deputies on a pursuit along southbound Highway 101, exiting on Garden Street and then traveling on city streets, Ms. Zick said. The pursuing deputies lost sight of Ms. Tapia’s vehicle in the Please see KIDNAPPING on A4
Prosecution, defense discuss options in electronic peeping case By NEIL HARTSTEIN
KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS
Southbound State Route 154 traffic was backed up from State Street past the Salvar Road overpass for most of the morning and early afternoon after the closure of southbound Highway 101 just south of Buellton due to a crash involving two firefighters.
By ANNIKA BAHNSEN NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
Two firefighters were struck by a minivan at approximately 5:20 a.m. Thursday, while they were addressing a minor injury vehicle accident on the side of Highway 101 and State Route 1 interchange near Gaviota. The firefighters were originally addressing a vehicle that rolled over on the southbound side of Highway 101. As they were assisting the first party alongside California High Patrol officers, the driver of a minivan — a 2016 Nissan Quest — lost control on the highway due to the wet conditions of the rain and swerved toward the first responders. The minivan struck two of the firefighters, then continued onto the dirt shoulder and overturned, according to CHP Officer M. Griffith. The collision led to the closure of southbound Highway 101 until 12:30 p.m. in the Buellton and Gaviota area. Due to the closure, southbound State Route 154 — the alternative to Highway 101 — experienced major backups and delays from State Street past the Salvar Road overpass for most of the morning and early afternoon. There was a total of seven people injured in the early morning collision: two firefighters with major injuries, one CHP officer with minor injuries and four additional patients with minor injuries, said Capt. Scott Safechuck, public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. The details were later confirmed by the CHP. The patients with minor injuries included the driver and three passengers in the Nissan Quest. They were taken to Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT PHOTO
Capt. Scott Safechuck, a spokesperson for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, reported that two county firefighters were transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital after they were hit by a van while attending to a minor injury accident.
Maria. The firefighters involved were a captain and an engineer, both with the county fire department. They were immediately transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, one by ambulance and one by helicopter.
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As of 8:18 a.m., they were awake and talking, Capt. Safechuck said. Then around 2 p.m., Capt. Safechuck announced the captain was in stable condition and that the engineer was now back home.
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email: abahnsen@newspress.com
The prosecution and defense in the case of a man charged with 26 counts of unlawful electronic peeping are discussing possible resolutions to the case that would avoid the need for the case going to trial, prosecutors said. The defendant, Justin Asinobi, appeared in court Wednesday, but the case was continued to May 3, Deputy District Attorney Dalia Granados said. “Defense is reviewing the discovery, and we are discussing possible resolutions,” she told the News-Press. “No trial has been set yet.” Mr. Asinobi, 23, pleaded not guilty to the charges, all misdemeanors, at his arraignment. Prosecutors say if the case goes to trial and he is convicted, Mr. Asinobi could get up to six months in Santa Barbara County Jail for each count. The defendant has been charged with unlawful electronic peeping between Oct. 1, 2021 and Feb. 15, 2022. The complaint filed against him alleges that he “willfully and unlawfully used a concealed camcorder, motion picture camera or photographic camera to secretly videotape, film, photograph or record by electronic means another identifiable person, or through the clothing worn by that other person, for the purpose of viewing the body or undergarments worn by that other person, without that person’s knowledge or consent.” A case involving electronic peeping was initially reported in 2022, and as a result, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office conducted an almost yearlong investigation into the allegations. As a result of that investigation, the District Attorney’s Office charged Mr. Asinobi, alleging he placed hidden cameras in places where persons had a reasonable expectation of privacy. “What I can tell you at this point is that there are multiple victims and there were multiple
devices hidden in private homes,” Prosecutor Granados said. A search warrant signed on Feb. 23, 2022 permitted the search of devices belonging to Mr. Asinobi in which the alleged recordings were located, the complaint said. After viewing the secret recordings, law enforcement officers were able to identify 12 of the people depicted in the recordings, and although an additional 14 were visible, they have not been identified yet, prosecutors said. In a move to protect the confidentiality of those alleged victims who were identified, counts 1 through 12 in the complaint lists them only by their initials. In counts 13 through 26 pertaining to alleged victims who remain unidentified, all but four are listed as Jane Doe. The final four are listed as John Doe. The defendant was released from custody after a judge approved his motion for pretrial supervised release despite objections voiced by prosecutors. The judge based his ruling on the defendant’s lack of criminal history, age and no new law violations being picked up in the last year. Pretrial supervised release means that Mr. Asinobi was released with supervision by probation under certain terms and conditions. Probation has a pretrial unit that is assigned to be responsible for supervising the defendant, the prosecutor said. The terms and conditions of his release are: no contact with all victims, stay away from Isla Vista, GPS monitoring, reside with his parents, a curfew of not being able to leave his home before 7 a.m. and being home by 10 p.m., no electronics/recording devices except for accessing his father’s computer for the purposes of school and medical reasons, and a cellphone with the condition of only using it to call his parents and for medical purposes. email: nhartsteinnewspress@ gmail.com
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The CHP officer with minor injuries was transported to Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital in Solvang. The collision is now under investigation by the CHP.
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
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