Santa Barbara police, right, use a drone for surveillance during a law enforcement response to a Montecito mansion Wednesday afternoon after a report of a barricaded subject.
Santa Barbara police, right, use a drone for surveillance during a law enforcement response to a Montecito mansion Wednesday afternoon after a report of a barricaded subject. Credit: Peter Hartmann / Noozhawk photo

The Nevada man accused of attacking and seriously injuring someone at Ty Warner’s Montecito mansion Wednesday has been charged with attempted murder, assault, kidnapping and residential burglary. 

A large law enforcement response converged on Warner’s Fairway Road residence at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday after the report of a home invasion or possible vehicle burglary. Warner is a hotelier and Beanie Babies mogul. 

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said Russell Maxwell Phay, 42, of Henderson, Nevada, had violently attacked someone at the home and then barricaded himself in a bathroom. 

He then climbed out of a window and jumped to the ground, where he was arrested and then booked into jail custody, sheriff’s spokesperson Raquel Zick said. 

The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office filed charges Friday, and the criminal complaint shed some light on the assault that prompted the emergency response. 

Phay is accused of entering an inhabited part of a building occupied by Warner and a person identified as L. Malek-Aslanian with the intent to commit larceny. 

Phay assaulted Malek-Aslanian and inflicted great bodily injury, “causing the victim to become comatose due to brain injury,” the District Attorney’s Office said. 

He also is charged with kidnapping, residential burglary with a person present, and obstructing or delaying sheriff’s deputies. 

In addition, he faces accusations of several aggravating factors and special allegations. 

Zick of the Sheriff’s Office said it appeared that the victim and the suspect did not know each other. 

Phay was arraigned in Santa Barbara County Superior Court on Friday morning and pleaded not guilty to all charges, prosecutor Kevin Weichbrod said. 

He was in jail custody and held without bail as of Friday, according to sheriff’s records.  

A preliminary hearing is set for June 2 in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.