Santa Barbara man accused of stealing more than $1 million, charged with 49 counts

The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday that 49 counts of financial fraud have been filed against Stefan Bernard DeWitte, a 38-year-old Santa Barbara resident.

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

The 38-year-old’s 49 charges include embezzlement, forgery, theft by false pretense, securities fraud and money laundering, according to local officials. The Santa Barbara resident is also charged with several special counts of aggravated crime and money laundering.

The criminal complaint filed Friday details the extensive allegations leveled against DeWitte.

Several crimes were committed against an individual identified in the complaint as Caroline DeWitte, including embezzlement of more than $629,000, forging a property grant deed, forging a $260,000 investment contract, forging a shareholder agreement, theft by false claim of $260,000. and a securities offering violation.

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

A person identified as Tanja Dewitte was the third victim of the Santa Barbara resident’s murders mentioned in the document; Officials say the suspect embezzled more than $210,600 belonging to the victim, committed two thefts under false pretenses valued at $60,000 and $20,000, respectively, and violated a securities offering.

In addition, Dewitte received several special charges listed in the criminal complaint as aggravated white-collar crime loss of more than $500,000, excessive loss of more than $100,000, indicia of planning the committed crimes, and three separate counts of money laundering transactions. over $50,000 in a 30-day period.

The official document outlines the 37 different money laundering charges DeWitte served, including the items and services he used the stolen money to pay for. These individual fees range in value from $0.99 to $22,000, with a number of transactions typically attributed to transfers and Venmo services provided through Uber.

DeWitte is being held on $800,000 bail at the Santa Barbara County Jail. His case is set for trial Nov. 4 in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.