A woman was unconscious after a chaotic incident at the Beanie Babies billionaire Ty Warner in Montecito’s luxury province last week, officials said officials were involved in violent intrusions and attempted kidnapping.
According to the criminal complaint, Warner was the creator of Beanie Baby – transformed into a huge, stylish plush toy in the late 1990s – was home at the midday attack, but he was not injured. The injured woman was identified as L. Malek-Aslanian in the complaint and was in a coma after a severe brain injury.
The relationship between women and Warner is not yet known. She was identified as the head of financial services by some local news media.
Warner, who owned his Montecito home for many years and was known as a seclusion executive, expanded his business empire from toys to luxury hotels in the early 2000s.
Amber Frost, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office, said her medical condition had not been updated as of Tuesday.
Russell Maxwell Phay, 42, was at a stalemate with law enforcement, and was arrested in the assault after he jumped from the second-floor window of his mansion and was arrested, according to a press release from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
Phay, of Nevada, was accused of breaking into the mansion around 4:30 p.m. on May 21, deputies said.
When law enforcement arrived after receiving a possible break-in call, they found the woman injured outside the home. The delegates quickly summoned an ambulance.
But they were concerned about hostages or other victims at home, so the deputies surrounded the mansion before entering. After searching for the house, deputies confirmed that another occupant, Warner, had gone out safely and the intruder was blocked in the upstairs bathroom.
Deputies said officials tried to convince him to surrender, but he climbed out of the second floor window and jumped to the ground where he was arrested.
It is not clear why Phay is in Santa Barbara County, but officials say they don't think he knows the residents of the two houses.
Phay, who was arraigned Friday in the Santa Barbara County Superior Court, faces charges of attempted murder, attempted theft, kidnapping, assault and obstruction of law enforcement officers. Frost said he pleaded not guilty to all charges. It is not clear whether Phay has obtained a lawyer.
Details were not immediately obtained in Phay's criminal history, but prosecutors said he had many previous convictions and served in prison or jail. He was released on bail on $100,000.
Phay accepted the 2014 story in the San Francisco Chronicle, about the then-Veterans Court, where he attended, and received treatment and guidance after serving his sentence in a Colorado prison to threaten his wife. In the story, he is identified as an army combat soldier.
“I've been trained to get rid of you at the time. “I've been trained to eliminate you. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true.”
