A former Los Angeles Police Department detective released from state prison after serving one-fourth of a 102-year sentence was arrested in Santa Maria this week in connection with a 1994 violent assault in Ventura County.

Michael Douglas Brambles, 77, of Santa Maria, was taken into custody Wednesday by Ventura County District Attorney’s Office investigators and Santa Maria police officers. 

After being convicted of attacks in Los Angeles County in the 1990s and sentenced to 102 years in prison, Brambles was released in 2020. He was the beneficiary of a law that granted elderly offenders early release after serving 26 years of a sentence. 

With Brambles seemingly spending the rest of his life in prison, Ventura County officials previously decided not to prosecute him for the crimes in Thousand Oaks in 1994. But they reconsidered that decision after learning of his early release. 

“This is a case that demonstrates the importance of perseverance, the value of preserving evidence and the fact that justice does not have an expiration date,” Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said at a press conference Thursday. 

In April 1994, a woman, referred to as S.W., was working in a Thousand Oaks gift shop when an armed suspect confronted her. 

“What followed was a violent and traumatic attack that changed her life forever,” the sheriff said. 

Brambles held her gunpoint, restrained the woman and sexually assaulted her before robbing the store and fleeing. She broke free and called 9-1-1. 

Sheriff’s Office personnel conducted an investigation, including collecting evidence which was carefully preserved for more than three decades. Brambles was the suspect for the Ventura County assault.

Brambles committed similar crimes in Los Angeles where he was convicted of 26 criminal counts including 18 armed robberies and multiple sexual assaults. He was sentenced to 102 years in state prison.

“At the time, S.W. had every reason to believe that her perpetrator would never walk the streets again,” Fryhoff said. “That was not the case.”

Ventura County law enforcement officers learned about the man’s release from prison while they worked to identify offenders connected to unsolved cases. This effort included using modern technology to test DNA from previous convictions and closed cases. 

During this effort, they learned Brambles had been released from state prison after serving just 26 years under a 2018 law that granted elderly inmates early release if they served over 25 years and were over 60 years old. 

“The justice that I and his other victims deserved was denied when he was only required to serve a fraction of his sentence he earned,” S.W. said during the Ventura County press conference. “I’m thankful to have this opportunity to now seek justice for myself and for his other victims.”

At his state parole hearing, Brambles specifically denied committing any other sexual offenses beyond than those he had been convicted of in Los Angeles County, District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said.

Brambles began working for LAPD in 1971 and retired in 1994 in the midst of the crime spree, Ventura County officials said. 

After being taken into custody in the 300 block of East Enos Drive where he lived in Santa Maria, Brambles initially was booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail on $2 million jail. 

He since has been transported to Ventura County Jail. 

Brambles has been charged in Ventura County Superior Court with kidnapping to commit robbery while personally using a firearm. The complaint also alleges several aggravating circumstances, including that the crime involved great violence, the victim was particularly vulnerable and more. 

Since the statute of limitations has expired, Brambles won’t face charges for the sexual assault, Ventura County officials said.

He made his first appearance in court on the new case Friday morning, but his arraignment hearing was continued to Sept. 11, county officials said.

Additionally, Brambles now is being held in jail custody without bail.

If convicted of the charges in the kidnapping charges and sentencing enhancements, he faces a possible maximum sentence of 12 years to life in state prison.