$1,000,000 Bail for $100 Robbery
Santa Barbara – The rising cost of governmental services has apparently impacted the administration of justice in the beach resort communities of the Central Coast, as the Santa Barbara County District Attorney has won a bail setting request of $1,000,000 pursuant to the arrest of a homeless robbery suspect whose weapon of choice was allegedly a flashlight and who reportedly purloined the grand sum of $100 in cash.
Eric Moldoven
In the early morning pre-dawn hours of Wednesday July 25th, Eric Moldoven, 44, is suspected of having entered the convenience store kiosk of a heavily-patronized Mobil gas station with a metal flashlight in hand. According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff spokesman Sgt. Mark Williams, Moldoven promptly attacked the store clerk, pummeling him on the head with the flashlight, rifled the store’s cash register, and fled with approximately $100 cash.
“Responding deputies immediately searched the area,” Williams reported to the media, “focusing on the empty field behind the Turnpike Shopping Center.”
The convenience store clerk was attended to by responding Santa Barbara County Fire Department and American Medical Response paramedics while SBSD Detectives fanned out across the commercial area intersection and adjacent sprawling “big box” retail venues. The store clerk was transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, treated for minor head and scalp injuries, and later released.
While the store clerk was headed to the hospital, Moldoven was contacted by SBSD deputies in a nearby undeveloped field. His identity was confirmed by the Mobil station video surveillance records, and he was taken into custody without incident.
Moldoven was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on charges of robbery, burglary, and assault with a deadly flashlight, with bail set at $1,000,000 (and the jailhouse betting pool reports very little confidence that the $100 cash he stole will cover the bond).
Photos: courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking; Exxon Mobil Corp.
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