Ex-LAPD Detective, Paroled Under California Elder Law, Rearrested in 1994 Cold Case

Michael Douglas Brambles was arrested Wednesday in Santa Maria, California, six years after California's elderly parole law let him out of prison early. He had been sentenced to roughly 102 years.

Ventura County prosecutors charged the 77-year-old former Los Angeles Police Department detective with kidnapping to commit robbery while personally using a firearm, tied to an April 19, 1994, attack at a Thousand Oaks gift store, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office. He's held on $2 million bail in Santa Barbara County jail and was expected to be arraigned Friday.

The woman he allegedly attacked, identified only as SW, was closing Arabella's Boutique when Brambles pointed a gun at her, forced her into a back room, tied her hands and sexually assaulted her before robbing the store, according to the DA's office. Investigators identified him as a suspect shortly afterward. But the case never went anywhere because Brambles was already headed to a 102-year sentence in Los Angeles County for a separate string of armed robberies and sexual assaults.

Convicted on 26 counts, out in 25 years

Brambles was found guilty in 1996 on 26 felony counts, including 18 armed robberies and multiple sexual assaults, according to the Los Angeles Times. Former LAPD Chief Daryl Gates had once called him "one of the smartest, most innovative detectives I've ever known," the Times reported. The crimes were committed during his final year on the force, while he was on medical leave, months before his 1994 retirement.

With a 102-year sentence on the books, SW's Thousand Oaks case was dismissed. She agreed to the dismissal at the time because she believed Br