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Randy Quaid, Wife Arrested as Alleged Squatters in Montecito Home
By William M. Macfadyen, Noozhawk Publisher | 
| Published on 09.19.2010 1:54 a.m.
Actor Randy Quaid and his wife, Evi, were arrested on felony burglary charges Saturday after Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of squatters living in a Montecito home.
Sheriff’s Department spokesman Drew Sugars said a representative of the property’s owner called authorities Saturday afternoon to report that someone had been living there illegally. According to Sugars, the representative had gone to the residence in the 1300 block of East Mountain Drive to check on a security alarm that had gone off earlier Saturday and discovered that someone had been living in the guest house. A sheriff’s deputy met the representative at the property about 2:15 p.m., but the intruders were not there.
About 6:15 p.m., the property’s representative called authorities to report that the trespassers had returned. When deputies arrived, Sugars said, they found the Quaids, who insisted they had owned the property since the 1990s.
Sugars said the property’s representative was able to provide documentation that his client had purchased the property in 2007 from a man who had bought it from the Quaids several years earlier. A contractor who had done work on the property pointed out to deputies more than $5,000 in damages to the guest house that he believed was caused by the Quaids, Sugars said. The property’s representative signed a complaint for a citizen’s arrest, which prompted deputies to take the Quaids into custody on residential burglary charges.
Quaid was handcuffed without incident, but deputies where forced to restrain Evi Quaid, who physically resisted arrest.
Quaid, 59, and Evi Quaid, 47, were booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail on Saturday night on charges of felony residential burglary and misdemeanor entering a noncommercial building without consent. Evi Quaid was also booked for misdemeanor resisting arrest. The Quaids each posted $50,000 bail and were released Sunday morning.
The Quaids are due back in court on Oct. 18, although that is subject to change.
Early Sunday, it was not clear how long the guest house had been in use. The property, near Oak Creek Canyon Road, is screened from the street by trees, hedges, and a stone wall with wood-plank gates. A carport area is piled high with boxes and household items. Inside the wall, a black mailbox adorned with large “RQ” initials sits on the ground by the driveway. A store-bought No Trespassing sign is leaning against it.
The house is less than a mile from the San Ysidro Ranch, where the Quaids allegedly used an invalid credit card to pay a $10,000 hotel bill in 2009. Earlier this year, the couple settled legal charges related to the incident.
Evi Quaid pleaded no contest to defrauding an innkeeper, was fined $10,500 in restitution, and was ordered to perform 240 hours of community service and to stay away from two Montecito hotels. The charges against her husband were dropped.
— Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk.
Comments
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» on 09.19.10 @ 08:05 AM
They love the limelight and the fame. Now give ‘em what they deserve - their own little cell on a piece of property owned by the State of California.
» on 09.19.10 @ 08:58 AM
Clearly there’s more to this weird story, but one suspects—given Quaid’s recent history—that it will never restore the actor’s reputation.
» on 09.19.10 @ 09:50 AM
Wow. These guys are really strange. I can understand them commandeering their old place, if they are broke; but, a year of two ago they stiffed theSan Ysidero Ranch hotel for $10,000.
Are they mentally stable? And, why did Randy get off without punishment and his wife took the fine and conviction? Was that to keep a conviction off his record for employment purposes?
» on 09.19.10 @ 12:06 PM
I wonder if Randy is trying to get into character for another “Vacation” movie, in which he plays crazy “Cousin Eddie”. He and his already-crazy wife seem to be “off”. First, they do $10,000 worth of damage to a resort hotel, then they “squat” in a home and cause $5,000 in damages. How does one even DO that? What is up with these people?
Clark Griswald
» on 09.19.10 @ 12:37 PM
I think the look on Evi Quaid’s face in her mug shot says it all.
» on 09.20.10 @ 02:48 PM
Not posting my comments? Little too close to the truth for the noozhawk liberals?
» on 09.20.10 @ 04:40 PM
What’s Noozhawk not posting, jukin? Didn’t I just read your comments on the Lou Cannon and Ken Williams stories?
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