Felony Fugitive Arrest
updated: Feb 25, 2013, 7:33 PM

Source: Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office

A felony fugitive who escaped from his electronic monitoring device six months ago and was wanted by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office is in custody. At around 11:15 a.m. Sunday afternoon a citizen at a restaurant in the 700 block of Linden Avenue in Carpinteria recognized 56 year old Steven Kunes sitting at the bar. The citizen who had seen Kunes' booking photo on the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office facebook page contacted a friend to confirm his suspicion. The friend then called 911 to report the felony fugitive. Deputies responded to the restaurant and took Kunes into custody.

Kunes, a Pennsylvania resident who has also lived in Montecito, has an extensive criminal history that includes forgery, grand theft and commercial burglary. He was serving a sentence at the county jail and was approved for electronic monitoring on August 1st, of 2012. On August 22nd, an alert went out that his device had been cut at the Fed Ex Office on Hope Avenue. Kunes mailed his device to a Custody Deputy at the Santa Barbara County jail and fled the area. A warrant was issued for his arrest.

Kunes is in the Santa Barbara County Jail pending an arraignment on escape charges. No bail is set.

The felony fugitive arrest is a great example of how the use of social media can assist in solving crimes. For more information on other subjects wanted by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office please visit our website at www.sbsheriff.org or like us on facebook at the following link https://www.facebook.com/pages/Santa-Barbara-County-Sheriffs-Office/281661093649

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MUG SHOT GALLERY

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 378667P	2013-02-25 07:44 PM
Dude! Your teeth!!!
COMMENT 378677	2013-02-25 07:59 PM
This is the 3rd time I've read this story, it's just being regurgitated by different news outlets a week apart. I like how he mailed it to his parole officer
COMMENT 378678	2013-02-25 08:01 PM
Whoops nevermind, this one said he was caught. Sorry bro
COMMENT 378682	2013-02-25 08:11 PM
"around 11:15 a.m. Sunday afternoon" Quality press release...top shelf SBSO
COMMENT 378684	2013-02-25 08:14 PM
What a handsome fella
COMMENT 378697P	2013-02-25 09:39 PM
Have people read about how this is huge trend among parolees with electronic monitoring? There are way too many people doing this for authorities to keep up with, and minimal penalties for doing it. Good job to the citizen and sheriff's for getting him.
COMMENT 378700P	2013-02-25 09:51 PM
697P: It was a front page story in yesterday's LATimes, although mostly it was about sex offenders who are have cut or otherwise disconnected the monitors.
COMMENT 378702P	2013-02-25 10:13 PM
Only six months? Crack investigating skills at work. Then....why did he stick around? Maybe his freedom convinced him he was no longer a fugitive.
COMMENT 378733	2013-02-26 07:16 AM
He thought he was safe at the worlds safest beach.
COMMENT 378737	2013-02-26 07:31 AM
Proves he's No genius. Ankle bracelet is freedom. Living in jail or with a bad spouse, now that's punishment. Not sure what's worse.
COMMENT 378743	2013-02-26 07:46 AM
Great opening sentence in his wikipedia page... "Steven Kunes is an American screenwriter, author, playwright, con man, forger and plagiarist."
COMMENT 378751	2013-02-26 08:09 AM
What's wrong with his teeth? His teeth are fine, albeit a little vampirish. Do a Google image search for "Steven-Kunes-File-Courtesy-Web.jpg", the picture where he is wearing a white Malibu Chamber of Commerce hat, and tell me those aren't fangs.
COMMENT 378757	2013-02-26 08:18 AM
He was "hiding out" at The Palms! What a great place to find fugitives, among the rest of the flies at the bar at 11:15 a.m. on Sunday in the afternoon!
COMMENT 378781	2013-02-26 08:47 AM
In this day and age, I can't understand why there isn't the kind of technology available that would prevent a convict from removing a monitoring device.
COMMENT 378790P	2013-02-26 09:07 AM
I thought it would be the Palms but I don't think it is open that time of the day. The address could be wrong by one block. Sly's is open on Sunday mornings.
COMMENT 378813	2013-02-26 09:58 AM
This guy, Kunes, bragged on an internet website of having won an award as screenwriter of "Rain Man" (the real writer, who won an Oscar for it, lives right here in town)!
COMMENT 378853	2013-02-26 11:39 AM
A real swashbucker, this guy, cutting off and sending his monitoring device to the jail, then escaping to only about 20 miles away. It should not have taken 6 months to recapture him. Evidently no one was really looking for him. Way to go, Sheriff's Department.
COMMENT 378859	2013-02-26 11:54 AM
"six months ago and was wanted by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office"....... What has the SBSD done about this guy in the last six months? -- Close to nothing. Seriously, we should fire 90% of the police and fire departments, and use Facebook, Google and Yahoo to track down criminals. -- that's all the authorities use these days anyways, plus, a few overpriced license-plate tracking technologies. Here's to firing the cops!

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