For decades, Craig A. Case was a man about town. Born and raised in Santa Barbara, he was a private investigator for wealthy clients and ran a successful security company, the Case Detective Agency. His father was a police officer.
Case served on a number of boards and commissions, including for the Santa Barbara Police Foundation, Santa Barbara City College, and United Boys & Girls Club. And he appeared every weekend on his self-produced TV show, The Inn Crowd, where he rubbed elbows with big names in the Central Coast food and wine scene.
All that came to a sudden end in July 2023 when Case was arrested and charged with embezzling nearly $700,000 from a former client. He’s been in jail ever since. The alleged victim, 94-year-old Constance McCormick Fearing, has since died…