Lompoc City Councilman Steve Bridge must stand trial on 15 criminal charges plus two new counts related to alleged fraud involving city rebate programs, a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge decided Thursday.
Bridge’s preliminary hearing culminated Thursday afternoon with Judge Stephen Dunkle deciding the case should move forward, rejecting defense efforts to reduce all of the criminal counts to misdemeanors.
Dunkle said the councilman’s actions were strongly suspicious and created enough probable cause for the charges to remain.
This included submitting paperwork with a defunct contractor’s license number for an Escondido firm that shared the same name as Bridge’s stepson.
Defense attorney Michael Scott cited Bridge’s age and lack of prior criminal history in seeking to reduce the charges to misdemeanors, calling the acts “errors in judgment.”
Senior Deputy District Attorney Brian Cota disagreed, contending that Bridge “literally doesn’t think it’s a big deal” to pluck a contractor firm’s name and license number to include on paperwork submitted to the city.
“Everything about this is dirty and it certainly is not misdemeanor conduct at least at this point,” Cota said, noting the City Council’s responsibility includes monitoring the use of public funds.
The judge previously heard recorded interviews with Investigator Ronald Murillo during which Bridge admitted he crafted an invoice to get a payment from a city rebate program.
“They needed a receipt, so I decided to gin one up,” Bridge said in the interview with Murillo, who is with the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office. “Maybe that’s fraud, but he [stepson Scott Turner] did the work.”
Multiple recordings were played during the preliminary hearing, with the allegations related to city rebate programs for electrical improvements and a leak-detection program.
The felonies include three counts of forgery, two counts of grand theft, two counts of misappropriating public funds, fraudulent use of a contractor’s license number, identity theft and presentation of a fraudulent claim.
The misdemeanor charges are petty theft, two counts of lacking workers’ compensation insurance and two counts of contracting without a license.
The two new felony charges accuse Bridge of creating false evidence and presenting false evidence.
One was related to a declaration he reportedly helped craft for a man who testified, while the other pointed to an invoice that had been revised after initially being submitted to authorities.
While Scott characterized the acts as mistakes, Cota disagreed, saying the false information submitted to the city was “clearly designed to defraud.
Bridge’s stepson, Scott Turner, who did some of the work, had testified he did not have a contractor’s license to performing the electrical and plumbing work.
“This is more sinister than they’ll have you believe,” Cota added.
Cota had suggested the case could be tied to court orders for Turner related to child support and efforts to avoid payments.
Scott called the criminal case “grossly overcharged,” contending the councilman derived no benefit from the rebate programs.
Instead, Scott said, Bridge viewed the projects as a way for his stepson to earn money, and that the councilman had not charged the nonprofit organization for any work he did.
In addition to the two sides disagreeing if the work requires licensed contractors, the defense also focused on the rules for rebates.
A Lompoc utilities employee, Rodney Loehr, had testified about spotting inconsistencies on paperwork submitted by Bridge for the rebate program. That prompted a wider search for Turner Construction and other projects submitted for rebate programs.
He also spoke about various adjustments made for rebate program applications over the years.
Under cross examination by Bridge’s attorney, Loehr answered questions about whether city guidelines clearly spell out that licensed contractors should be used.
“It does not say that, but it does not say fabricate the document either,” Loehr said.
Witnesses testified that Bridge did not use his position as a member of the City Council to obtain the rebates, Scott said, calling the improvement projects “a win-win” for Certain Sparks and Odd Fellows and not a sinister plot.
Bridge, who previously served on the Planning Commission, began his 4-year term on the City Council in December 2024, a month after being elected to the District 1 seat.
The judge ordered Bridge to return to court June 3 for arraignment on the charges.