Regulatorsexpand

clean-fuelshipping zone

ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES — Californiaregulators have expanded aclean-fuel zone to prevent cargovessels from skirting the world’stoughest ship pollution rules.

Ship crews had been travelingfarther out to sea to avoid theoriginal zone so they could savemoney by using heavy, sludge-likefuels instead of more expensive,cleaner fuel.

The Navy complained that bydoing so, the ships were enteringrestricted areas where missiletests are conducted.

To keep ships in compliance, thestate Air Resources Board unani-mously agreed Thursday to extendthe regulatory zone farther thanthe current 24 nautical milesbetween the shore and the ChannelIslands.

The Navy complained that shipshave been traveling around theisland chain and through its PointMugu Sea Range since Californiaforced ships to switch from burningso-called bunker fuels with highlevels of sulfur to more refined,low-sulfur fuels as they enter thebuffer zone.

The Navy said the number ofships that entered the 36,000-square-mile restricted areajumped from an average of two aday to as many as 15 a day since therules took effect in July 2009.

Capt. Aaron Cudnohufsky toldthe board at its meeting in Sacra-mento that the traffic delayed onemajor missile exercise. He pre-dicted more conflicts as commer-cial shipping activity picks up.

The ships from Asia traditionallytravel between the Santa BarbaraChannel and the shore on their wayin and out of the ports of LosAngeles and Long Beach, whichhandle 40 percent of U.S. imports.Air regulators estimate that shipssave about $3,000 in fuel each timethey travel outside the zone, eventhough the trip takes longer.

Shippers opposed the zoneexpansion, saying it will requirecompanies to retrofit tanks, pipesand engines. The staff at the AirResources Board contends therule will help shippers ease intofederal and international shippollution requirements that will gointo effect in August 2012.

The international rule willestablish a ship emissions controlarea 200 nautical miles off the U.S.and Canadian coasts.

STREET PARTY

STEVE MALONE / NEWS-PRESS

Diane Stevenett paints a zebra head Friday in preparation for today’s Solstice Parade.

By SONIA FERNANDEZNEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

Santa Barbara’s biggest street party isunder way — that’s right, Solstice celebra-tions are taking over downtown this weekendwith floats, feathers, food and festivities forthe family.

“We’re really grateful to this communityfor supporting us,” said Claudia Bratton,Santa Barbara Solstice Celebration’s exec-utive director.

The festival is going strong when otherannual festivals are dropping out for lack offunds, Ms. Bratton told the News-Press.

This year’s theme is “Jungle,” so be pre-pared for all kinds of big cats, gorillas, snakes

and other jungle dwellers in the paradelineup.

What looks like big, happy, sometimes evenchaotic exuberance making its way downState Street is actually the result of weeks ofpreparation, as Solstice artists sculpt, glue,design, build, sew and construct the wildconcepts they have in their head — the moreoutlandish, the better.

Other artists take time out to practice andrehearse their moves and music.

“It’s a meditation,” said Diane Stevenett,one of the artists-in-residence.

Ms. Stevenett’s float this year is a whimsi-cal black-and-white set of 12-foot-high danc-ing zebras (never mind that they’re not fromthe jungle) created with coaxial cable,

chicken wire and papier mache.Around this float will be a bevy — no, a

dazzle — of costumed dancing zebras.This year is also a year for inflatable art —

floats that, well, float. Artist Pali Ex is rentingout these huge and hollow creations, insidewhich people can walk, dance, strut andperform.

The big festival has its origins in 1974, as abirthday celebration for local artist andmime Michael Gonzales. The parade con-verged with a music festival to mark thelongest day of the year, and the two becameone of the city’s most popular parties,incorporating wild creativity, music perfor-mances, and vendors selling food or arts andcrafts.

At some point it became clear that there

Please see SOLSTICE on A8

Parade today highlight of Solstice Celebration

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On the morning of NewYear’s Day, investiga-tive journalist PeterLance was arrested onsuspicion of driving

under the influence by Officer KasiBeutel of the Santa Barbara PoliceDepartment. The case is pending.After finding a number of mis-statements of fact in the report ofthe incident, Mr. Lance started

looking into other arrests involvingthe officer. The investigation,including interviews with others,resulted in this five-part series,which began June 22 and runsthrough Sunday.

For daily updates and links todocuments used in the research forthis series, see newspress.com. Formore on Mr. Lance, go topeterlance.com.

Behind the Series

STEVE MALONE / NEWS-PRESS

After the search for the remains of Ramona Priceended Friday, heavy equipment works at the sitewithout investigators present.

No results insearch for

girl’s remainsPolice will decide Monday

how to proceed in50-year-old case

Please see SEARCH on A10

By ANGEL PACHECONEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

The location of 7-year-old Ramona Price’s burialground remained a mystery Friday as police concludedthe week’s search at the Winchester overpass.

The Santa Barbara Police Department will decideMonday on how to proceed with the 50-year-old cold case.

Missing since Sept. 2, 1961, Ramona’s case left detec-tives and community members scratching their heads foryears. But three or four years ago, the Santa BarbaraPolice Department was able to link the cold case to serialmurderer Mack Ray Edwards, a heavy equipmentoperator who admitted to using his skills to bury victimsat freeway construction sites.

Mr. Edwards had worked on the construction of theWinchester overpass, which was taking place at the timeof Ramona’s disappearance. Just weeks ago, the PoliceDepartment received word from Caltrans that theoverpass, which has been replaced, was to be demol-ished. Investigators decided to move on the chance.

Suspicions were gained some confirmation last weekwhen four cadaver dogs canvassed the area and allalerted the same spot on the northbound side of Highway101. Authorities broke ground Tuesday in the highlypublicized dig for Ramona, but after four days searchingfor signs of bone or clothing, officials were still emptyhanded when they left the dig site Friday morning.

The resurrection of the 50-year-old case drew atten-tion from national media, and bicyclists and pedestriansstopped throughout the week to watch the backhoe digand ask whether they had found “the little girl” yet.

SANTA BARBARA POLICE PHOTO

Kasi Beutel

Officer credibility key in DUI cases Fourth of five parts

By PETER LANCESPECIAL TO THE NEWS-PRESS

On April 15, when Americans werescrambling to send in their taxes, theVentura County District Attorney’sOffice sent out a notice to all lawyerswith pending driving under the

influence cases warning that theAlco-Sensor V, a breath testing deviceused to convict or indict hundreds ofdrivers in Ventura County, had been“pulled from service” over “erratictest results.”

Suddenly hundreds of drunkendriving convictions could be tossedout.

The Alco-Sensor V has put nearly

900 drunken driving cases in jeopardyin San Jose. At the same time, dozensmore were in question as far away asBurlington, Vt., over accuracy issuesraised last month about the Data-Master DMT machine used there totest the breath of drivers in DUI stops.

In recent weeks, on opposite coasts,two additional scandals involving thecredibility of DUI officers have puthundreds of other pending cases andprior convictions in doubt.

On May 5, a judge in Charlotte, NC,found Charlotte-Mecklenburg policeofficer Barry Grimes guilty of con-tempt and sentenced him to 30 days injail after it was discovered that theofficer lied on the stand about per-forming field sobriety tests on a 24-year-old woman he’d arrested onsuspicion of drunken driving. As aresult of that single case, the Meck-lenburg County District Attorney’sOffice announced a review of up to 100of the disgraced officer’s prior casesfor the crime of DWI, driving whileintoxicated, as it’s known in NorthCarolina.

Two weeks later, the district attor-ney in Sacramento County filed per-jury charges against Brandon Mul-lock, a former Sacramento policeofficer, after discovering discrepan-cies between his sworn statementsand the actual evidence that led to thearrest of dozens of drivers. A total of 79former Mullock cases were dismissed,most of them alleged DUIs.

“The district attorney should onlyprosecute cases where the evidence istrustworthy and legally obtained,”says Jan Scully, Sacramento Countydistrict attorney. “Even though most ofthe defendants have already beenconvicted and sentenced, we havetaken extraordinary steps to dismissthese cases in the interest of justice.”

In both the Grimes and Mullockcases, the officers were caught ontape, their sworn statements in courtconflicting with the onboard video intheir patrol units.

But, as I’ll detail in tomorrow’s story,the Santa Barbara Police Departmentis the only major law enforcementagency in Santa Barbara County

without such video units, so the cred-ibility of arresting DUI officers is moreimportant here than ever.

“You’ve had these scandals,” saysFelix D’Amico, retired San Bernar-dino County sheriff’s sergeant, “be-cause particularly in a DUI case, theofficer’s word can make or break thecase. This is the only area of criminal

law where an officer in the field canmake three assertions and arrest youon the spot in the absence of any otherindependent proof: first, ‘I smelled theodor of alcohol;’ second, ‘The driver’sspeech was slurred or deliberate;’ andthird, ‘Their eyes were bloodshot and

Please see DUI on A10

By SHANE GOLDMACHERLOS ANGELES TIMES

SACRAMENTO — Friends of JerryBrown who have acknowledged raisingmoney from private donors to pay the Cal-ifornia governor’s Sacramento rent saidFriday that they are also running a secondnonprofit for Brown that his predecessortapped to fund luxury travel around theworld.

The nonprofit, called the California StateProtocol Foundation, was used by sup-porters of former Gov. ArnoldSchwarzenegger to pay for private jet trips,luxury hotel stays and other expensesincurred by the governor and his entou-rage. Special interests with business beforethe state footed many of the bills.

Mr. Schwarzenegger’s supportersturned control of the nonprofit over toBrown backers in March, said the non-profit’s new president, George Kieffer, whois also helping to run the residence fund.The Protocol bank account currently hasjust one deposit, $25,000 left over from Mr.Brown’s inaugural fund, he said.

Mr. Brown’s office said Friday that theProtocol Foundation had already begun topay for some staff travel and that no inter-national trips are in the works. SpokesmanGil Duran said Mr. Brown had not decidedwhether to ask for a cap on contributions, ashe did for his inaugural committee, butpledged there would be ‘‘no secret donors.’’

Mr. Kieffer, who had previously said thatdonors to the residence fund would remainundisclosed until January, said Friday thatthe fund has also received $25,000 in left-over inaugural money. The residenceaccount, which is paying Mr. Brown’s $3,000monthly rent and utility bills, has not yetreceived any other donations, Mr. Kieffersaid.

Mr. Brown has declined up to $35,000 intaxpayer money available to offset his livingarrangements, opting instead to rely on theprivate donors. California is one of only ahandful of states not to offer its governor anofficial residence in the capital city.

For decades, governors have used non-profits to ‘‘lessen the burden of govern-ment,’’ as the Protocol Foundation’s mis-sion statement says. But the practice has

come under increasing criticism fromethics watchdogs who say it is a means forwell-heeled donors to curry favor.

Supporters of Mr. Schwarzenegger andformer Gov. Gray Davis, for instance,directed millions in donations into thefoundations. Some checks exceeded$100,000.

‘‘If it were a collection of a million peoplepaying a dollar, I wouldn’t care,’’ said BobStern, president of the Center for Govern-mental Studies. But it’s wealthy donorsgiving thousands, and that’s ‘‘usually peo-ple who want something from the state.People just don’t contribute without areason,’’ he said.

The nonprofits are supposed to beindependent, though Mr. Duran said Mr.Brown suggested names of potential Pro-tocol board members, such as Mr. Kieffer,who served as counsel for Mr. Brown’s 1976presidential bid.

Mr. Kieffer is now a lawyer at Manatt,Phelps & Phillips, a firm with a lobbyingwing in Sacramento that represents com-panies such as AT&T Inc., SunEdison andOracle America. Other board members of

the Protocol Foundation, Mr. Kieffer said,are Antonia Hernandez, chief executive ofthe California Community Foundation;Stewart Kwoh, president of the AsianPacific American Legal Center; GaryToebben, head of the Los Angeles AreaChamber of Commerce; and Zack Wasser-man, a lawyer who is also on the residencegroup’s board.

Nonprofits such as the Protocol Foun-dation have existed since patrons of formerGov. George Deukmejian created one in the1980s. Mr. Davis dramatically expandedtheir use, tapping them for millions ofdollars for travel, housing and even a partyat the 2000 Democratic NationalConvention.

Mr. Schwarzenegger, who traveled theworld by private jet, drove up the expen-ditures — and public scrutiny. New ruleswere drafted to stop large donations fromfunding gubernatorial globetrotting. Butunlimited checks continued to flow withoutbeing earmarked specifically for thegovernor.

Mr. Brown has not indicated how he willuse the nonprofits.

Private donors fund second nonprofit for Brown

By JUDY LINASSOCIATED PRESS

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown andhis fellow Democrats in the Legislatureworked Friday along two different trackswith the hope that one will lead to a budgetdeal before the start of California’s newfiscal year next week.

Mr. Brown met with Assembly SpeakerJohn Perez and Senate President Pro TemDarrell Steinberg to discuss an alternative

budget plan the governor could support if itwere passed by a simple majority of Dem-ocrats.

The governor, meanwhile, continues toinsist he still has time to persuade Repub-lican lawmakers to support his call for aspecial election so voters can decidewhether to increase taxes.

‘‘The speaker continues to meet with thegovernor, the pro tem and Republicanleaders to find a comprehensive budgetsolution and will continue to do so over the

weekend,’’ said Mr. Perez’s spokeswomanRobin Swanson. ‘‘He is focused on deliv-ering a budget agreement that doesn’tmake further devastating cuts to schoolsand public safety.’’

California’s fiscal year ends Thursdayand for the first time, lawmakers are feelingadditional pressure to resolve the state’sbudget crisis in a timely manner. They arelosing their salaries and living expensesuntil they balance the state’s annualspending plan by closing a $9.6 billion

budget deficit Lawmakers from both parties this week

sounded increasingly pessimistic that Mr.Brown could get a special election. Someeven proclaimed the governor’s plan dead.

‘‘Is Plan A dead? I’ll leave it to the gov-ernor to announce the wake and the funeralservices but we are proceeding to try todevelop again the best majority vote budgetthat we can with the governor,’’ Mr. Stein-berg said Thursday.

Brown, Democrats working two fronts on budget

SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS FROM THE FRONT / CALIFORNIA & THE WEST SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2011 A10

Among those who spent the week waiting and won-dering was Visalia resident Michael J. Robb, who told theNews-Press he went to Garfield Elementary School withRamona and would walk home with her.

In an email to the News-Press on Wednesday, Mr. Robbsaid he would like to attend a memorial service if theremains are found, and if nobody claims the remains, hewants to pay for a funeral.

He described Ramona as being his best friend in firstgrade, and he recalled on Friday the entire city going outto search for her when she disappeared.

For a time, Mr. Robb said, he grew up picturingRamona living in another state under a different name,as he wasn’t able to fathom that people would kill chil-dren.

On the morning she was last seen, Ramona’s familywas moving from Oak Avenue in Santa Barbara to KirkDrive in Goleta. The 7-year-old had three older siblings,including two sisters and a brother. Ramona’s mother isin her 90s and was aware of the search, police said.

Edwards confessed in March 1970 to killing six otherchildren from 1953 to 1968. According to police, Edwardssaid in most of the cases he used his skills with heavyequipment to dig holes at freeway construction sites tobury his victims.

He bragged while on death row at San Quentin that hekilled 18 people who would never be found because noone will ever dig up a freeway. He hung himself at SanQuentin in 1971.

The death of Ramona is one of the Santa BarbaraPolice Department’s 20 cold cases and it’s one that PoliceChief Cam Sanchez has said intrigued him.

“Because it’s a cold case doesn’t mean it’s a forgottencase,” he told reporters Tuesday,

“The Price family deserves closure,” Chief Sanchezsaid.

email: apacheco@newspress.com

Chief: ‘Because it’s acold case doesn’t mean

it’s a forgotten case’! SEARCHContinued from Page A1

watery.’ ““It’s a driver’s constitutional right to

refuse to take a field sobriety or abreath test,” says local DUI defenseattorney Darryl Genis. “But if they do,the officer can literally take them tojail and virtually every judge or jurywill support that action. Why?Because in these cases in which DUIis considered such a terrible crime, it’sthe officer’s word against the accused.And if an innocent person below(California’s legal limit of) .08 getspushed over the line by an overzealouscop, there’s little they can do. Thepresumption of innocence has nopractical meaning.”

In few areas the credibility of asingle law enforcement officer hastaken on more weight than in SantaBarbara, where Kasi Beutel, who ledthe Santa Barbara Police Depart-ment’s Drinking Driver Team from2009 to 2010 has been celebrated for anunparalleled DUI arrest record with apurported total of 680 collars for bothyears. As such, she won back-to-backawards from Mothers Against DrunkDriving and Avoid the 12, an associa-tion of a dozen law enforcementagencies countywide dedicated toreducing the number of drunkendrivers.

But after a five-month investigation,I’ve uncovered significant evidencethat appears to impeach Officer Beu-tel’s credibility, from the official arreststatistics provided by her departmentthat conflict with her award-winningDUI totals, to a series of materialmisstatements of fact in a number ofher DUI police reports, to evidencethat in two cases she withheld keyevidence from the files of convicteddrivers that might have helped theirdefense.

Most troubling, I’ve found evidencethat blood-test waivers which shewitnessed as having been signed byarrestees, were, upon examination bya handwriting expert, said to beforged. That’s significant because theblood test is the most accurate mea-surement of the blood alcohol contentin a DUI suspect and as I’ve demon-strated, the results of tests on theAlcotest 7410 Plus breathalyzer usedby the Santa Barbara Police Depart-ment can be manipulated to enhanceBAC levels above the .08 legal limit.

“And that brings us back to thecredibility issue,” says Mr. Genis, whois representing me in a DUI case inwhich Kasi Beutel was the arrestingofficer.

Evidence of perjury in federal and state litigation

Apart from her conduct on the job,another measure of Officer Beutel’sapparent willingness to lie comesfrom an analysis of a series of civilactions she was involved in beforejoining the Santa Barbara PoliceDepartment in 2005: her 2000 Chapter7 bankruptcy in federal court and her2005 divorce from Todd Beutel, acertified public accountant, in Ven-tura County Superior Court.

According to a sworn declaration intheir divorce proceedings which KasiBeutel commenced April 27, 2005, sheand Todd were married May 31, 1997.“We have been married,” shedeclared, under oath, “for approxi-mately 7 years and 11 months.”

Indeed an August 2003 newspaperreport on the expensive Renaissancemakeover of the couple’s bedroomalso fixed their marriage date as 1997.A photo taken inside the couple’sbedroom showed Kasi in her weddingdress, kissing Todd in the medievalthemed nuptials.

But the final divorce stipulationthat Kasi signed asserted that “KasiBeutel (”Petitioner”) and Todd Beutel(”Respondent”) were married on Jan.15, 1999,” some 20 months later. Thistime, when Kasi Beutel signed thestipulation she asserted that “Thelength of the marriage was 6 years and3 months.”

The reason for her acquiescence toa change in her own marriage datemay have had something to do with theChapter 7 bankruptcy that ToddBeutel filed Oct. 1, 1998. In that peti-tion, in which he listed total liabilitiesof $251,066.64, Todd filed as an indi-vidual claiming as his sole propertyunder the Homestead Exemption atownhouse on Lake Lindero Drive inAgoura Hills which he valued at$75,000.

“That exemption allows a bankruptdebtor to keep the house that they livein,” says veteran Los Angeles-basedbankruptcy attorney Douglas Neistat.“It protects what it implies, the‘homestead’ and doesn’t apply toseparate rental property whichshould be scheduled in the petition asan asset that creditors might seek tocollect against.”

It’s clear from his Chapter 7 filingthat CPA Todd Beutel had manycreditors. Schedule F of his petitionlists debts to 18 separate credit cardcompanies totaling $161,306.64,including two separate cards issuedby Chase totaling $26,405.46 and othermajor credit cards from AmericaExpress, Discover, Bank of Americaand Wells Fargo.

A single card from Merchants BankNorth America had an outstandingbalance of $18,275.40.

“The fact that a certified publicaccountant would rack up that kind ofunsecured credit card debt isextraordinary,” said a CPA inter-viewed for this series, who asked not tobe identified. “It suggests an intent toblow out these cards, knowing that aChapter 7 filing was in the offing.”

But Kasi Beutel, Todd’s wife withwhom he was living at the time,somehow piled up an even greatermountain of debt. In her own separateChapter 7 filing on May 12, 2000, just16 months after Todd’s bankruptcywas discharged, she submitted apetition listing total liabilities of$336,196.85 including seven creditcards of her own totaling $33,450.41.

In that 2003 news report, KasiBeutel identified herself and Todd as“accountants,” and in her 2000 bank-ruptcy filing she described her occu-pation as “accountant.”

“So she was clearly familiar with aledger book,” says the CPA I inter-viewed. “To have two purportedaccountants file one bankruptcy afteranother in the space of two years withcombined unsecured debt of$194,707.55 with 24 cards betweenthem is mind blowing.”

Allegations by Kasi that Todd misused business expenses

Todd Beutel’s run-up of credit carddebt takes on new meaning when youconsider that in his Chapter 7 filing, helisted his annual disposable income asonly $40,047.12. And in her divorcedeclaration, under oath, Kasi Beutelestimated the monthly expenses forthe couple and their three minorchildren at $12,000.

Kasi also alleged that her husbandused his accounting business to pay forpersonal expenses: “We took extrav-agant vacations,” she wrote in a dec-laration under penalty of perjury,“and we live in a home valued at noless than $1.5 million. These expenseswere always paid by and through thecompany, Beutel AccountancyCorp. . . During the course of ourmarriage, Respondent never traveledfor work and never took an airlineflight for work purposes. All his workwas done within a 2-mile radius of ourhome or his office. In addition,Respondent never took a client out fora meal. 100% of the roughly $14,000 intravel and entertainment expenseswas for our family’s personal use.”

On Aug. 22, 2000, Kasi Beutel’sChapter 7 petition was discharged,three months after filing. But a closerlook at her petition brings her flip flop,under oath, on the date of her mar-riage into new focus. While Todd, fil-ing as an “individual” was able to keephis Agoura Hills townhouse worth$75,000 under the HomesteadExemption, Kasi, filing as marriedwas also able to hold onto a house, justa few blocks away on PassagewayPlace which she valued at $270,000.

Evidence of possible bankruptcy fraud

“As a general principle, you can’t beliving in one house that’s beenexempted by your husband in abankruptcy,” says lawyer Mr. Neistat,“and then claim another house as yourhomestead in a subsequent bank-ruptcy while you’re still living in thatoriginal house.”

In Kasi Beutel’s divorce petition in2005, she swore under penalty of

perjury that she and Todd had livedtogether in his townhouse on LakeLindero Drive in Agoura Hills fromAugust 1995 to October 2002 when theymoved into the house which sheclaimed as exempt in her bankruptcyfiling on Passageway Place. Becauseshe claimed that $270,000 single fam-ily home as her residence under theHomestead Exemption, she, too, got tohold onto it. But in the subsequentdivorce, Todd, once again, listed theLake Lindero Drive townhouse as hisseparate property.

And in a series of real estate swapsand transactions in the years followingKasi’s Beutel’s bankruptcy, they madeconsiderable income on bothproperties.

Flipping the townhouse prior to a final sale

On Oct. 19, 2004, Todd Beutel soldthe townhouse on Lake Lindero Drive,valued at $75,000 in his bankruptcy tothree separate entities: Kasi Beutel(trustee), the Beutel Family Trust andto himself, Todd W. Beutel.

Eleven months later, those threeentities flipped the townhouse back toTodd and he sold it the same day toDave and Michele Ruggiero for$382,000, a profit of $307,000.

Meanwhile, on Dec. 6, 2002, Kasisold the Passageway Place house,valued in her bankruptcy at $270,000 toJinsong Gu for $419,000, a profit of$149,000.

Now the significance of the changein marriage dates comes into play. Inthe course of the divorce, Todd Beutelproduced a marriage certificate fromLos Angeles County dated Jan. 15,1999, two days after his Chapter 7discharge when he’d filed as an indi-vidual. It lists Passageway Place, theproperty Kasi claimed as exempt astheir residence.

“By shifting the marriage dates to 48hours after his discharge,” says theCPA I interviewed, “Todd was able topotentially cure any fraud in hisbankruptcy in which he claimed asexempt the townhouse on Lake Lin-dero Drive that Kasi swore in herdivorce petition they were living in.But that raises other questions aboutwhether Kasi committed fraud byclaiming the $270,000 home asexempt, when she swore in herdivorce petition that she and Todd hadlived in his townhouse since 1995, fiveyears before her bankruptcy andcontinuing through it.”

Meanwhile, in her bankruptcypetition sworn to under penalty ofperjury, Kasi valued the PassagewayPlace home at $270,000 at a time it wasbeing taxed by Los Angeles County at$285,600.

“None of these claims may puteither Beutel in legal jeopardy withthe feds,” says bankruptcy lawyer Mr.Neistat, “because the statute of limi-tations in both filings has long sincerun. But they certainly raise ethicalquestions.”

Another hint that the Beutels maynot have been entirely candid withbankruptcy trustees in their respec-tive filings came in their final divorcesettlement. Rather than listing theLake Lindero townhouse as commu-nity property and dividing its value50/50, Todd claimed it as his own andagreed to pay Kasi an equalizationpayment of $286,000 — $257,000 ofwhich he was obligated to pay withinfive days of the divorce decreebecoming final on Feb. 23, 2006.

Was Kasi Beutel honest with sbpd about her credit problems?

Whether she is legally liable underthe bankruptcy fraud statutes, oneunanswered question at this time ishow forthcoming was Kasi Beutelwhen she applied to become an officerwith the Santa Barbara PoliceDepartment? The current applicationfor prospective officers lists amongpotential reasons for rejection, “lackof well-balanced credit” and “falsifi-cation of any required application orreport.”

In the course of her bankruptcy,Kasi Beutel admitted that under hermaiden name “Kasi M Moore,” shewas the subject of a default judgmentin Van Nuys Municipal Court from CitiFinancial Inc. Her Chapter 7 petitiondoesn’t list the amount of the judg-ment against her, but in her Scheduleof Unsecured Debts she lists threeseparate Citi-related credit cards,with outstanding balances of$2,847.00; $9,645.54; and $4,069.46.

“When it came to her application tothe Police Department, we don’t knowwhether Kasi Beutel lied by omissionor commission,” says defense attorneyDarryl Genis, “because when we fileda motion to get a look at her applica-tion, the City Attorney’s Office foughtus tooth and nail and based upon theirmisrepresentation of a Pitchess-related case, the judge was snookeredinto ruling against full disclosure.”

The so-called “Pitchess motion,”which I filed in early March asked forany of Kasi Beutel’s “employmentrecords including records document-ing the base pay and any overtime pay,any internal affairs file; professionalstandards unit file, divisional file;training file; academy file; humanresources file; risk management file;captain’s file, any other files hereinnot listed but that may be maintainedby the Santa Barbara Police Depart-ment or custodian of records.”

The city attorney fights disclosure In a May 16 response to our March

request, Assistant City AttorneyMichelle Montez argued that “dis-covery is limited to the names,addresses and telephone numbers ofcitizen complaints within the last fiveyears.”

At a hearing before Santa BarbaraCounty Superior Court Judge GeorgeC. Eskin on April 8, Tava Ostrenger, anattorney for the city, argued that onlythe complaint files on an officer wereeligible for Pitchess Motion reviewand Judge Eskin agreed, reviewing alimited file “in camera” — in hischambers — that revealed nothingabout whether Kasi Beutel lied oromitted key information from herSanta Barbara Police Departmentapplication regarding her bankruptcyor credit card debt.

Tracking complaints against offic-ers in the department can be prob-lematic. Michael Kenny, the 42-year-old commercial fisherman (profiled inPart Two of this series on Thursday)who got shot by a stun gun by KasiBeutel after a routine stop in 2009, saidhe had trouble filing a complaintagainst her.

“They told me when I called at thetime that I couldn’t file a complaintuntil the case I had pending wasresolved,” Mr. Kenny said. “By thetime that happened, months later, I’dforgotten. So you have to wonder howmany other complaints like mine go

unfiled.”On June 1, I referred a series of

questions regarding Kasi Beutel to Lt.Donald Paul McCaffrey, the publicinformation officer for the SantaBarbara Police Department. In anemail response he wrote, “I am con-cerned that this list of questionsextends beyond public informationand delves into personnel file mate-rial protected by law. This E-Mail hasbeen referred to the Santa BarbaraCity Attorney’s Office for review.”

SEC charges for Todd for marriage-term accounting

It is unknown precisely howinvolved Kasi Beutel was with hus-band Todd’s activities as an accoun-tant, or what she knew about thedetails, but in September 2007, 20months after their divorce, Todd andhis Westlake Village company BeutelAccountancy Corp., were issued acease and desist order by the U.S.Securities and Exchange Commissionfor violations that occurred during themarriage term. The firm was one ofonly 69 nationwide cited for violatingthe Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a 2002 anti-fraud law passed in the wake of theEnron scandal.

The charges stemmed from ToddBeutel’s auditing of Vital HealthTechnologies, aka Caribbean Ameri-can Health Resorts, a Barbados-basedcompany with offices in Beverly Hills.The audit period was for 2003 and 2004during the time he and Kasi weremarried and living together.

According to the SEC filing, at thetime Todd audited the company, “Vi-tal Health reported revenues of$10,500 and total assets of $1 million.”

Repeated attempts to get a com-ment from Todd Beutel for this articlewere unanswered.

In the final part of this series onSunday, I examine why the SantaBarbara Police Department is the onlymajor member of Avoid the 12 withoutvideo recorders in its patrol units andthe implications of that for DUIsuspects.

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Before becoming a Santa Barbara police officer, accountant KasiBeutel filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection listing total liabilities of$336,196.85 including seven credit cards totaling $33,450.41 debt.Documents also show she was living in a house that had beenexempted by her onetime husband in a bankruptcy and then in her ownbankruptcy claimed another house as a “homestead” while still livingin the original house. Such disclosures could have made her ineligibleto serve on the force because the application, a portion shown here,states potential reasons for rejection include “lack of well-balancedcredit” and “falsification of any required application or report.”

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The district attorney inSacramento County filed perjurycharges against BrandonMullock, a former Sacramentopolice officer, after discoveringdiscrepancies between his swornstatements and the actualevidence that led to the arrest ofdozens of drivers. A total of 79Mullock cases were dismissed,most of them alleged drivingunder the influence.

Bad cops have thrown hundreds of DUI cases! DUIContinued from Page A1