MONTECITO, Calif. (TCN) — Authorities recently arrested a 43-year-old man on suspicion of beating a woman, causing severe injuries, and barricading himself inside the home of Ty Warner, the founder of Beanie Babies.
According to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, on the afternoon of May 21, deputies responded to a private residence on Fairway Road to an initial report of a possible vehicle theft or home invasion robbery. Outside the house, officials located a female assault victim with critical injuries, and she was rushed to a hospital.
According to KSBW-TV, the victim, a 60-year-old financial services expert who had worked for Warner’s hotels division, sustained a brain injury and was left comatose. Warner was reportedly home during the alleged attack, but deputies learned all occupants had safely escaped, and the Beanie Babies tycoon was unharmed.
The suspect, later identified as Russell Phay of Nevada, allegedly barricaded himself in an upstairs bathroom, and authorities tried to convince him to exit. The suspect reportedly tried to escape by climbing out of a second-story window and jumped onto the ground. He was then arrested and faces multiple charges, including first-degree attempted murder, obstruction, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, battery with serious bodily injury, and kidnapping. Phay remains held on $100,000 bail.
According to the sheriff’s office, investigators do not believe the victim and Phay knew each other.
Phay was previously featured in a San Francisco Chronicle article in 2014 about military veterans in criminal cases. Phay reportedly served in the Army as a trained infantry combat soldier. After he was out of the military, Phay allegedly followed and threatened his wife when she took their son to Colorado. He was also charged with assault and battery in 2018, but the case was dismissed last year.
