A former lieutenant in the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office has pleaded guilty to charges related to a 2019 drunk driving accident on Highway 154 that sent several people to the hospital.
Javier Jonathan Antunez de Goleta, now 46, changed his conviction in the Santa Barbara County Superior Court on March 29 and will return to sentencing in two months.
Then, a lieutenant in custody operations, Antunez was charged with causing the head-on collision with three vehicles on Highway 154 on September 14, 2019, near Lake Cachuma.
The California Highway Patrol said Antúnez was driving east in a BMW with a passenger when the vehicle crashed head-on into a westbound Toyota Tacoma driven by Enrique Calderón-Méndez de Santa Bárbara.
The driver of a third vehicle, a Santa Barbara woman behind the wheel of a Jeep heading west, was unable to avoid the wreckage and hit the rear of the Toyota.
Six people, including Antunez, were taken to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital to be treated for several injuries after the crash, authorities said.
Judith Hall of Santa Barbara, a Toyota passenger, was flown by a Calstar medical helicopter to the hospital to treat serious injuries.
Antúnez and his passenger, Esther Emiko Trejo of Santa Bárbara, also suffered serious injuries.
Two other Toyota passengers, Dolores Gutierrez and Evelia Dominguez, both from Santa Barbara, sustained moderate injuries. Calderon-Méndez, the driver, received minor injuries.
Antunez originally faced a crime of driving under the influence of alcohol and driving a blood alcohol offense of 0.08% or more, causing injuries, in addition to an improvement to cause serious bodily injury to five more people, according to the criminal complaint filed in the Superior Court of Santa Barbara County.
Under the agreement, Antunez pleaded guilty to driving a felony under the influence that caused injuries and admitted a major improvement in the sentence for bodily injury, according to the California Attorney General’s Office.
The lawsuit claims a six-year state prison sentence, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
Antunez was ordered to return to court for sentencing on May 24.
Due to improvements in the sentence, Antúnez had to serve up to 16 years in prison on charges, if convicted in this case, according to the criminal complaint.
The County District Attorney’s Office asked the Attorney General’s Office to handle the investigation and processing of this case to prevent a possible conflict of interest from occurring, as one of the employees was one of the injured passengers.
Attorney General Jonathan Kline led the prosecution team while Antunez was represented by Josh Lynn.
Hall worked as a district attorney researcher. He is also a board member of the Santa Barbara County Deputy Sheriff’s Association.
In addition, it was reported that Trejo has worked for the Santa Barbara County parole department.
Antunez had been working in the sheriff’s office since 1999 and was off duty at the time of the collision, said Sheriff’s Lieutenant Erik Raney in 2019.
After the crash, Antúnez was placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation.
He retired from the sheriff’s office in February 2020, spokeswoman Raquel Zick said Tuesday.
In addition to the criminal charges, Antúnez has been named in civil lawsuits arising from the collision.
– Noozhawk North County publisher Janene Scully can be contacted at . (You need JavaScript enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews i @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.