Photo: arsenal
July 14, 2021 – Santa Barbara County, Ca.
Maybe it was the July heat in the seasonably toasty Santa Ynez area several miles inland from the cooler Pacific Ocean coastline. Or maybe it was the heroin, methamphetamine, and other controlled substances yet to be identified by law enforcement coursing through his bloodstream.
Whatever the cause of his somnolence, 27-year-old San Luis Obispo resident Jacob Southard was so zonked out that he wasn’t even aware that security personnel at the Chumash Casino parking garage had called the cops in order to roust him from his deep slumber. It was in the
middle of the warm afternoon, according to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Raquel Zick, when SBSD deputies rolled up to the scene.
By then, the parking garage security team had rousted Southard to consciousness. But his ability to focus on deputies’ questions gave them sufficient probable cause to conduct a perfunctory search of his vehicle. It didn’t take the deputies long to discover “a handgun, loaded high-
capacity magazines, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and an illegally modified high-power rifle.”
As is so often the case in these situations, one thing lead to another and moments later the cops found “a pistol reported stolen out of Humboldt County” under the vehicle’s driver seat, as well as an undisclosed amount of prescription medication, heroin, and methamphetamine.
Southard was arrested at the scene and then transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was booked on a plethora of charges that included: possession of narcotics and a firearm, possession of narcotics paraphernalia, manufacturing an assault weapon, possession of an assault weapon, being under the influence of a controlled substance, possession of a concealed and loaded firearm, and being a felon in possession of ammunition. His bail was set at $35,000.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Sheriff
