Santa Barbara man accused of stealing more than $1 million, faces 49 charges

The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday that Stefan Bernard DeWitte, 38, of Santa Barbara, has been charged with 49 counts of financial fraud.

Officials say DeWitte allegedly stole a total of more than $1 million from three different people.

According to local officials, the 38-year-old faces 49 charges including embezzlement, forgery, theft by false pretenses, securities fraud and money laundering. The Santa Barbara resident also allegedly faces several special charges of criminal enhancement and money laundering.

The criminal complaint filed Friday details the wide-ranging charges against DeWitte.

The individual identified in the complaint as Caroline DeWitte was charged with several crimes, including embezzlement of over $629,000, falsification of a real estate grant agreement, falsification of an investment agreement valued at $260,000, falsification of a shareholder agreement, theft under false pretenses in the amount of $260,000, and securities offering violation.

DeWitte’s crimes also targeted California Pacific Reality, from which he forged a deed of trust and fraudulently stole $185,000.

The person identified as Tanja Dewitte was the third Santa Barbara resident crime victim listed in the document; Officials say the suspect embezzled more than $210,600 belonging to the victim, committed two thefts under false pretenses worth $60,000 and $20,000, respectively, and violated a securities offering.

In addition, Dewitte received several special charges listed in the criminal complaint, such as aggravated loss of white collar crime in the amount of more than $500,000, excessive loss in the amount of more than $100,000, count of planning to commit crimes, and three separate counts of money laundering in the amount of more than $50 000 dollars within a period of 30 days.

The official document listed 37 different cases of money laundering allegedly committed by DeWitte, including items and services he paid for with stolen money. The value of these individual fees ranges from $0.99 to $22,000, and many transactions are typically attributed to Venmo transfers and services provided via Uber.

DeWitte is reportedly being held in the Santa Barbara County Jail on $800,000 bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned on a complaint filed Nov. 4 in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.