ELECTIONS / THOUSAND OAKS COUNCIL : Municipal Court Warrant Issued for Candidate’s Arrest

A Ventura County Municipal Court judge issued a warrant Tuesday morning for the arrest of Lance Winslow, the Thousand Oaks City Council candidate who said proudly last month that he has put his troubled past of unpaid loans, speeding violations and bounced checks behind him.

Winslow, who runs a mobile carwash service, has been cited for driving without a license by police several times over the past few months, most recently on April 4, according to court records.

Winslow was supposed to appear in court Tuesday to enter a plea on charges that he was driving an unregistered vehicle without a license. After the 30-year-old candidate failed to appear, the judge issued the bench warrant, which calls for holding Winslow in lieu of $5,000 bail.

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Sheriff’s deputies had not yet acted on the warrant Tuesday night.

Winslow’s troubles do not stop with the warrant. A former business associate is now taking Winslow to small claims court, saying he failed to pay off a 2-year-old debt.

Mike Corbett, a Westlake Village man who used to work for Winslow, said he sold Winslow a trailer and mobile carwash equipment in September, 1993, for $1,600 to be paid in monthly installments. But Winslow stopped making payments last May, $650 short of paying off the debt, Corbett said.

Corbett, a former friend of Winslow’s, said he had all but given up on receiving payment until his father--also named Mike--decided to pursue it. Winslow is expected to appear in court May 19 to resolve the issue.

“Probably Lance thought it would just go away,” the elder Corbett said. “But we aren’t going to let it.”

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The Corbetts said Winslow bounced two loan-payment checks to them. Court records show that Winslow also bounced a $114 check to the county to pay a fine he received in February after he was stopped for driving without a license. That matter has not yet been resolved by the courts, and Winslow is scheduled to appear May 22 on the matter.

During Winslow’s unsuccessful bid for council last fall, stories emerged of his checkered past, filled with traffic violations, unpaid tickets, failure to repay loans and two stints in jail resulting from these incidents.

At that time, Winslow dismissed those incidents as long past, experiences he learned life lessons from, and experiences that he said made him an even better candidate.

Tuesday, after hearing about the bench warrant, Winslow was less optimistic.

“This will probably cost me the election,” he said glumly. Winslow is one of six candidates seeking a vacant council seat in the June 6 special election.

At the same time, he said he is not guilty. He blames the Department of Motor Vehicles for making a mistake that he said has snowballed into multiple citations and piled-up fines.

Winslow said his license was suspended last year because of a previous traffic violation. But he said it was reinstated on the condition that he drive only for employment purposes.

But he said he learned it had been revoked when he was stopped by police in February. He paid a fine and said he believed the license would be reinstated. But that check bounced. He was stopped again in March and once again cited for driving without a license.

Winslow said he has scheduled a hearing with the DMV to straighten the matter out. He also said he was not aware of the scheduled hearing in Municipal Court Tuesday, and said he plans to go to court today to see if he can settle that problem. He insisted that he is not to blame.

“I have all these tickets, right?” Winslow said. “But theoretically they shouldn’t have taken away my license in the first place . . . It’s not my fault.”

Bouncing checks is a product of being too busy running a business and running for council, he said.

“I haven’t had time to look at my checkbook in the last month,” Winslow said.

He readily admits to failing to repay the loan to Corbett.

“I owe him the $650 dollars but I’m just going to have to make him earn it,” Winslow said. “I’ll pay him, I’m just going to make him earn it, that’s all. It’s a business thing.” Earning repayment entails “going to court,” Winslow said.

He complained that he spent $500 fixing the carwash equipment after Corbett sold it to him. Corbett said the machinery was only a year old and in very good condition when he turned it over to Winslow.

Winslow said he was angry that the elder Corbett sent him a letter demanding payment and stating that he would inform the other council candidates of Winslow’s debt if he did not contact him.

“I will not be pushed around by things like this,” Winslow said.

Finally, he defended the fact that he continues to drive without a license, saying he has no choice.

“I drive for a living, that is what I do,” Winslow said. “I can’t make money unless I drive. It makes it pretty tough.”