Felony Fugitive Caught Via Social Media

Felony Fugitive Caught Via Social Media

Steven Kunes

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY — Some people just don’t know when to quit messing around with the law, and 59-year-old Santa Barbara resident Steven Kunes seems to be one of them.

Since 1982, Kunes has been passing himself off as having access to numerous celebrities and media stars ranging from reclusive author J.D. Salinger, whom Kunes claimed to have interviewed when he fraudulently attempted to sell the transcript to People Magazine, to singer Jimmy Buffett, whose fake interview Kunes actually succeeded in selling to The Santa Barbara Daily Sound.

Kunes in happy times

Kunes in happy times

But Kunes’ scams went beyond the literary when he swindled a local Santa Barbara restauranteur out of money to finance a movie production that was a figment of Kunes’ fertile imagination.

Pursuant to that fraud, Kunes was arrested and subsequently jumped bail, only to be arrested and ultimately given a prison term of five years.

Upon his release from prison in 2012, he violated terms of his parole by removing an electronic monitoring device (which he mailed back to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department).

At that time, the SBSD posted Kunes’ likeness on the department’s Facebook page, which resulted in his being identified by a citizen at a local bar and arrested once again and sentenced to state prison.

According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, Kunes was released from Wasco State Prison on parole once again on June 8, 2015.

Shortly thereafter, he “failed to report to local probation pursuant to the terms of his Post Release Community Supervision” and once again fled the state.

But never happy to remain anonymous, Kunes’ recent social media postings led SBSD detectives to Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Working in concert with local authorities, detectives coordinated Kunes’ arrest on January 15th as he reported to a local Post Office box to pick up a delivery.

He was summarily arrested on the scene as a fugitive from justice and transported to Bucks County Jail where he awaits extradition back to Santa Barbara County Jail.

Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Investigative Division

Felony Fugitive Caught Via Social Media was last modified: January 14th, 2019 by admin
Categories: Santa Barbara

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