Stolen Horse Caper Solved In San Juan Capistrano

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA —New deputies at Orange County Sheriff's Department in San Juan Capistrano learn stories of a horse "caper" who sneaks into stables at night, takes a horse for a bareback ride, then returns it, no one the wiser.

For Deputy Ricketts, who joined the division in 2019, he chalked it up to lore of the local department.

Owners insisted the "horse borrower" was still in action, so deputies took additional proactive patrol checks around the city's horse stables and equestrian centers during night shifts, according to Carrie Braun of the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

On Tuesday, Officer Ricketts received an after-midnight call involving a wayward horse in a dark city parking lot.

"We've had horses get loose before, so the call itself didn't strike me as odd," he said of the initial incident.

Upon arrival to the vacant lot at Ramos Street and Paseo Adelanto, Officer Ricketts found the brown and white gelding.

Drawing on his experience with riding horses as a teenager, Ricketts first calmed then corralled the horse until Animal Control arrived.

"They handed me a halter, and they handed me a rope. I used some apples to get the horse to come to me," he said.

With the wayward horse harnessed, Ricketts walked him back to the San Juan Capistrano Police Services substation.

Like a deputy of the old west, he tied the horse to a post and watered him while fellow officers worked to find the owner.

Further investigation showed video of a woman breaking into a local stable, then riding the horse bare-backed through the city.

Security footage from the stables next door helped investigators identify a suspect.

According to Orange County Sheriff's Department arrest log, Amber Kristen Castillo, 42, was arrested later that day on suspicion of felony burglary and grand theft.

Deputies discovered the horse was Quito, a 23-year-old Holsteiner gelding, with a grateful owner, Cherilyn Von Aldenbruck of San Juan Capistrano's Equestricize.

Von Aldenbruck is pressing charges in the matter, she tells Patch.

"I have long suspected that someone has taken my horses out to ride in the night," she says. "My other horse has fallen asleep while we're tacking him up, and Quito has often seemed so tired. I never understood what was going on with them at night, until now."

Quito was a former Grand Prix jumper and continues to win championship ribbons as a dressage horse, Braun said. He also is a large part of her Equestricize business.

Did deputies capture the fabled horse caper?

Maybe, Braun says. One thing is for sure. These San Juan Capistrano deputies will be keeping a lookout.

Of the woman suspected of taking her horses out for night rides, Von Aldenbruck was saddened.

"I want her to get help," Von Aldenbruck said. "I think our system is so broken for people like that. I hope she gets the real help that she needs."