SLO County DA accuses judge of giving probation officer special treatment in embezzlement case
San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow has accused a San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge of giving special treatment to the probation officer accused of embezzlement, saying her bail shouldn’t have been reduced and she was shielded from the usual arrest process.
Fallyn Sierra Rollins, 32 — who was sworn in as a deputy probation officer in 2019, according to the county — appeared in court for the first time Friday to face nine counts of grand theft for allegedly embezzling more than $100,000 from the Probation Department’s union.
But she did not go through booking at SLO County Jail or have her photo taken.
That’s because her attorney, Robert Sanger, filed a motion to put his client on the court calendar on Feb. 4 — the same day her charges were filed by the District Attorney’s Office, court records show. That allowed Rollins’ to bypass arrest and booking.
Also, initially, an arrest warrant was issued for Rollins with a $1.18 million bail, Assistant District Attorney Eric Dobroth told The Tribune on Friday.
But Sanger countered that with another request asking for his client’s release on reduced bail or without posting bail, and San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Barry LaBarbera ultimately lowered Rollins’ amount to $100,000, which she posted Friday morning.
Rollins must stay in the area and wear a GPS ankle monitor managed by the Santa Barbara County Probation Department, LaBarbera ruled.
The judge’s actions in the case raised Dow’s ire on social media.
“Unfortunately, retired Judge (and former DA Barry T. LaBarbera) reduced the bail amount from $1.18 million to $100k and allowed her to get out of custody from Court without ever being booked. ... In doing so, the Judge seemingly treated her different than the Court would treat a ‘regular’ citizen,” Dow wrote in a Facebook post Friday sharing his agency’s news release on the court hearing.
Dow then shared additional opinions while debating people in the comments.
“She was a probation officer ... person to uphold the law ... she violated it and the trust of her fellow officers (and) she was not even ordered to be booked ... like anyone else would have been. She ‘surrendered’ in court before she could get arrested and booked,” Dow wrote in response to someone who commented in support of LaBarbera’s decision.
In response to another commenter, Dow wrote that pretrial confinement is under a judge’s purview and that a judge’s primary consideration is to protect the community when setting bail.
“And sometimes Judges are biased ... as any himan (sic) can be in any job under any certain circumstances. My primary concern here was not the reduction of the bail as much as it was not ordering her to be booked,” Dow continued. “It’s well within the Judges (sic) discretionary authority and it is fairly often that we disagree with them.”
In response to another person who agreed with LaBarbera’s decision and said they were “not a fan of using the pre-judgment judicial system as a means of punishment or negotiation,” Dow went further, declaring Fallin’s guilt and then introducing another side note:
“I hear you ... but she moved out of state and does not even live here. When she embezzled the money she was a San Luis Obispo peace officer who breached the trust of her fellow probation officers and stole their money. The Judge let her leave court today without even being booked on her felony warrant. Her lawyer’s wife is a judge in our court also.”
The last comment is a reference to San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Catherine Swysen, who is Sanger’s wife. Her courtroom is two floors down from LaBarbera’s, and according to publicly available records at this time, she did not have anything to do with the Rollins case.
Dobroth and Sanger both declined to comment for this story, and Dow did not respond to multiple requests. Under California Rules of Court, judges cannot comment on cases unless it is in connection to an election or recall campaign.
On Tuesday afternoon, Sanger responded by filing a motion for a gag order on the case, alleging Dow’s comments were prejudicial against Rollins.
Defense attorneys say setting a court date without being arrested is ‘normal’
This is far from the first time a defendant has appeared in court for a felony without being booked. In fact, the process isn’t unusual.
According to court records, Michelle Morrow, who was initially charged with four felonies relating to election fraud, also was not arrested or booked into jail despite there being a warrant for her arrest. She pleaded no contest to filing a false declaration of candidacy and fraudulent attempts to vote — both felonies — on Nov. 25 and was scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.
According to Steve Rice, managing attorney at the county’s contracted public defense office SLO Defend, Sanger filing a motion to put his client on the court calendar when he caught wind of the arrest warrant was something “any reasonable and responsible attorney would do, especially a private attorney who had been retained by someone to help them.”
“I don’t think it’s out of the ordinary,” Rice said. “In fact, I think you wouldn’t be serving your client’s interest if you didn’t have their case put on calendar after immediately finding out there’s a warrant for their arrest.”
Unlike public defense, Rice said, private attorneys may be obtained prior to any charges being filed if someone knows they are being investigated for a crime.
He added that the use of booking photos could prejudice the public and “try the case” before the person actually gets into court.
Patrick Fisher, a private attorney in San Luis Obispo, said that defendants being arraigned without being arrested in the manner Rollins did is a practice that happens multiple times per day in San Luis Obispo Superior Court.
“It’s completely normal,” he said. “There’s nothing unusual about it.”
Fisher said that when an attorney is obtained privately prior to charges being filed, the attorney routinely checks various agencies to see whether an arrest warrant or charges have been filed.
If an attorney discovers a warrant has been issued, then it is routine to set a court date prior to an arrest. He added that it is also normal to file a bail reduction request or post bail prior to that court date.
“It’s certainly well within the person’s rights to post bail before an arrest is made,” Fisher said. “That’s anybody’s goal ... to avoid that upsetting experience of being arrested, if they can. And our system allows for it.”
As to Dow’s social media posts on the case, Fisher said that as a defense attorney, “you don’t want to see a prosecutor making public statements or arguing their case in public.”
“We have a small community here, and the prosecutor is speaking to potential jurors,” he added. “When you have a prosecutor making statements in public where they’re essentially, arguing, trying to convince the public that this person is guilty before they’ve even begun a trial — It’s not something that you want to see as a criminal defense attorney and probably as just a citizen who cares about somebody having a right to a fair trial.”
Coincidentally, ensuring people receive the presumption of innocence is something Dow defended last month in support of U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, when his background was being debated in the court of public opinion before he was confirmed by the Senate.
“Don’t forget in our country under a fair justice system that applies the U.S. Constitution, when it’s not used as a political weapon, people are presumed innocent until proven guilty,” he wrote at the time.
Fisher added that he also “took issue” with Dow’s suggestion that a judge — in this case LaBarbera — was doing something improper.
“Anybody who has known Judge LaBarbera for long enough knows he certainly is not persuaded by any sort of politics or by who the defense attorney is married to,” Fisher said. “He’s the last person to care about that.”
He said when it comes to lowering bail, the judge’s main considerations are whether the defendant is a flight risk and whether the defendant is a danger to public safety.
This story was originally published February 11, 2025 at 5:28 PM.
