Full Notification

A joint investigation by the Santa Barbara Police Department’s Property Crimes Unit, the Franchise Tax Board’s Criminal Investigation Bureau, and the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office has resulted in the arrest of Christian Lucas Garvin, age 41, of Solvang, for the crimes of grand theft embezzlement and tax fraud. From 2005 to 2013 Garvin was the winemaker and manager at Oreana Winery, located in the City of Santa Barbara. Garvin had a 10 percent ownership stake in the business, while the remaining 90 percent belonged the victims in this case, two business partners based in Los Angeles.

Investigation in this case started in 2013. What was initially thought by the victims to be occasional discrepancies in inventory and record keeping over the course of several years, which they attributed to Garvin’s poor bookkeeping and forgetfulness, ultimately prompted them to conduct an audit. They subsequently discovered these discrepancies to be much more substantial than previously imagined, leading them to believe that Garvin had embezzled nearly $200,000.00 from the business. Shortly after this discovery Garvin left his position at Oreana Winery.

The victims contacted the Santa Barbara Police Department and the case was assigned to Property Crimes Detective Kristin Shamordola to investigate. Detective Shamordola’s investigation revealed that Garvin had created a bank account with a name similar to the one rightfully controlled by Oreana Winery LLC, and that without the knowledge of his partners, who had a majority stake in the business, from 2006 to 2013 used this account to divert over $1,200,000.00 from the business into his own personal accounts, primarily for his own personal use. Investigation by the Franchise Tax Board revealed that Garvin filed false 2008 to 2013 state income tax returns by failing to report the embezzled funds as income. The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office was consulted over the course of the investigation.

On October 13, 2015 Detective Shamordola obtained an arrest warrant for Garvin for the crimes of grand theft embezzlement and tax fraud. On November 5, 2015 at 4:00 p.m. detectives observed Garvin driving on CA Highway 246 in Buellton; they initiated a traffic stop and took him into custody. Garvin was booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail on the aforementioned charges with a bail amount of $400,000.00.

Photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.