Former LAPD Detective Charged in 1994 Kidnapping
DNA tied the 77-year-old to an attack at Arabella Boutique more than 30 years ago.
August 25, 2026 · Thousand Oaks
A former LAPD detective has been charged with kidnapping and robbing the owner of a Thousand Oaks boutique at gunpoint in 1994, after DNA from the scene was finally tested more than three decades later, the Ventura County District Attorney's Office said.
Michael Douglas Brambles, 77, was arrested at his home in Santa Maria on Aug. 12, one day after a warrant was issued, the [Acorn is reporting](https://www.mpacorn.com/articles/former-lapd-detective-accused-of-1994-thousand-oaks-kidnapping-robbery/). He's being held on $2 million bail.
Prosecutors say that on April 19, 1994, Brambles walked into the Arabella Boutique in Thousand Oaks, pointed a handgun at the owner and forced her into a back room. He allegedly tied her hands behind her back, sexually assaulted her and stole property from the store before fleeing.
The attack came just one month after Brambles retired from the LAPD, where he had worked since 1971, including stints in the Organized Crime Intelligence Division and Hollywood vice.
Two years later, in 1996, Brambles was convicted of 26 felony counts stemming from an 18-case crime spree and sentenced to 102 years in prison. He served roughly 26 years before he was released on parole in 2020 under California's Elderly Parole Program, according to the [Ojai Valley News](https://www.ojaivalleynews.com/news/county/former-lapd-detective-charged-with-1994-kidnapping-robbery-in-thousand-oaks/article_013f3368-7428-4075-a775-e3bec5ecf086.html).
The Thousand Oaks case, however, was never solved. It was reopened through the county's Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, a federally funded program that retests DNA evidence from cold cases using modern technology. The DNA came back a match for Brambles.
Because the statute of limitations on sexual assault was just six years in 1994, Brambles can't be charged with that crime. Instead, prosecutors charged him with kidnapping to commit robbery while using a firearm, which carries a maximum sentence of 12 years to life.
"Justice does not have an expiration date," Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said at a news conference announcing the charges.
The victim, identified only as S.W., also spoke. "I am here on behalf of other victims of sexual assault, to let them know that they are not alone and that they matter," she said.
Brambles is due to be arraigned Sept. 11 in Ventura County Superior Court.