Christian Kulbe
SANTA BARBARA — The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, working hand-in-hand with the Santa Barbara County Public Works Resource Recovery and Waste Management Division, operates nine secure steel “medicine cabinet” kiosks which are bolted to the ground at each SBSD substation and are available to the public on a 24/7 basis for the disposal of unwanted and outdated prescription medications.
The kiosks are maintained on a regular basis as part of the county’s Operation Medicine Cabinet; since 2007 the program has collected more than 30,000 pounds of medications.
The kiosks, located from Carpinteria to Santa Maria, are designed along the lines of a FedEx dropbox; it’s easy to put things into them and almost impossible to remove anything from them without a key.
“Almost” appears to be the operative reality, as evidenced by the September 4th arrest of 46-year-old Santa Barbara resident Christian Kulbe.
According to SBSD Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, Kulbe was observed just after the midnight hour by Carpinteria Patrol SBSD deputies as he was in the process of “using a homemade cord and fishing hook to remove syringes, medications, and other controlled substances” which had been deposited in the locked kiosk.
Deputies summarily made contact with Kulbe and seized his “fishing device” as well as the assorted contraband he had retrieved.
Kulbe was then transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was booked on charges of possessing stolen property, petty theft, possession of burglary tools, prowling, and possession of controlled substances, with his bail set at $2500.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
