SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — A man stole a pickup truck from a Cambria Community Services District utility yard on Sunday and drove up Highway 1 to Hearst Castle before barricading himself in one of the San Simeon estate’s historic guest houses, officials said.
Jarrod Michael Crockrom, 36, was arrested on suspicion of felony assault with a deadly weapon, receiving stolen property and vandalism of $10,000 or more, plus misdemeanor charges of failure to obey a peace officer and resisting arrest, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.
Cambria CSD water operator Art Garney discovered the suspect at about 9 a.m. Sunday at the district utility yard on Rodeo Grounds Road near the Cambria dog park, district acting General Manager Ray Dienzo said, along with a running CSD truck with trailer.
“We suspect that the perpetrator’s car got stuck in the mud and he saw some planks in our yard,” Dienzo said. “He busted into the yard to get some big planks.”
When that didn’t work, “He went on a rampage,” Dienzo said, eventually doing between $50,000 and $100,000 in damage to vehicles in the yard, a carport and a storage unit.
According to Dienzo, the man used a wooden plank weighing 200 and 300 pounds to damage the vehicles and the yard and shoved a rake into the radiator of one of the district’s trucks.
Dienzo said the suspect also smashed the windows of his own car, a small station wagon.
Despite air temperatures being in the low 40s, the man was only half dressed, Garney told Dienzo.
When Garney tried to get the key out of the running truck, the suspect began brandishing a machete at him, Dienzo said.
Garney then backed away and called 911, Dienzo said, while the man took off in the truck — kicking off a manhunt that ended at media mogul William Randolph Hearst’s former San Simeon estate.
Sheriff’s Office deputies had located the truck near the northern end of Leffingwell Landing on Moonstone Beach Drive in Cambria, but weren’t able to capture it or the suspect there.
That led to a car chase up Highway 1 to the Hearst Castle access road, officials said.
Manhunt ends at Hearst Castle
According to Falat and Dienzo, the suspect crashed through two entrance gates on Hearst Castle grounds — one at the visitor center and the other at the hilltop — damaging the stolen truck and trailer.
The man then barricaded himself in a guest house known as Casa del Mar, or A House, according to Dan Falat, superintendent of the California State Parks district that includes the Castle.
After crisis team negotiators failed to persuade the suspect to leave A House voluntarily, law enforcement officers went into the structure and captured the man, Falat said.
State Parks Sgt. C. Hendrix and his K-9 partner, German shepherd Janko, pinned down the suspect, Falat said.
Falat said the suspect ultimately was taken by Cambria Community Healthcare District ambulance to a hospital, where he was treated for dog bites before being booked into San Luis Obispo County Jail.
Crockrom was in jail custody Monday morning in lieu of $25,000 bail, according to jail records.
Was historic guest house damaged?
Hearst Castle reopened Monday.
However, Castle del Mar remains closed because it’s a crime scene, Falat said.
According to Falat, initial inspections by Castle rangers and collections staffers didn’t show any damage to artifacts and art in the 5,350-square-foot guest house.
The lift-gate at the visitor center was back in working order later Sunday, Falat said.
However, he said, State Parks was still assessing serious damage done to the heavy, electronically controlled gate on the hilltop, so vehicles were being rerouted through a similar exit gate.
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