Sheriff’s Deputy Is Arrested on Suspicion of Grand Theft : Crime: Darryl Dunn, a decorated 15-year veteran, has been suspended indefinitely. He is suspected of stealing a laptop computer.

A veteran Ventura County sheriff’s deputy, decorated just last spring for meritorious service, has been arrested on suspicion of grand theft and suspended indefinitely, authorities said Monday.

District attorney investigators are also exploring whether Darryl Dunn, 38, should be charged with crimes other than the alleged theft of a $3,700 laptop computer from the county last spring.

Investigators arrested Dunn of Ventura on Sunday night after a two-week inquiry into an anonymous tip, said Jeffrey Bennett, head of the district attorney’s bureau of investigation.

Dunn, a 15-year deputy honored by colleagues in April for saving a suicidal man, was released on his own recognizance soon after he was booked into the Ventura County Jail.

A patrolman who worked as a Sheriff’s Department liaison with engineers and residents during the La Conchita landslide, Dunn turned over his badge and will remain suspended with pay indefinitely, a sheriff’s spokesman said. Sources said the computer was reported stolen shortly after the landslide in March.

Bennett said the deputy is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 28. Grand theft and possession of stolen property charges are being considered, he said.

Bennett would not comment on the case in detail, refusing to even identify the precise location of the arrest. But he confirmed that there is a potential for additional charges beyond those related to theft.

“That’s exactly right,” he said.

Sources close to the case said that Dunn is suspected of repeatedly padding his Sheriff’s Department time card.

Dunn could not be reached for comment.

“This is very upsetting to us,” Undersheriff Richard Bryce said Monday. “We are devastated by the situation. We are in the business of enforcing the law, not breaking it.”

People who worked with Dunn during the La Conchita landslide crisis last winter and spring said they were shocked by his arrest.

“That’s crazy. I would put my life in his hands; a lot of people did out there,” said Ventura geologist Jim Fisher, who helped draft an emergency evacuation plan as the landslide appeared imminent.

Fisher said Dunn seemed to work 24 hours a day and did not take a day off for weeks during the crisis.

“They must have made a very serious mistake,” La Conchita homeowner Mary Lou Olfon said. “The man I know is very honorable. He’s certainly not guilty of something so stupid.”

Dunn joined the Sheriff’s Department in 1980 and has worked in a variety of roles, including bomb specialist. He was awarded the Medal of Merit by the Peace Officers Assn. of Ventura County for talking a Silver Strand man out of killing himself with a shotgun about a year ago.

Early this year, Dunn was selected liaison to the La Conchita community, spending months interviewing residents, conferring with geologists and mapping the unstable hillside.

Dunn also served for several years as a member of the sheriff’s honor guard, which represents the department at funerals and other special occasions.

He was arrested about 8 p.m. Sunday in Ventura as he walked to his car after a period of surveillance, Bennett said. Dunn was released without bail after a three-hour booking period, during which time he was kept apart from inmates.

Bennett said charges will have to be filed or dropped before Dunn’s arraignment next week.

Dunn worked most recently as a senior patrolman supervising several others deputies in Saticoy, El Rio, Silver Strand, Hollywood Beach, Ventura Avenue and La Conchita.

Bryce said the last deputy to be charged with a felony was Gary Adams in 1985. Adams was convicted of sexual battery against another sheriff’s employee and sentenced to three years in prison, Bryce said.

Daryl Kelley is a Times staff writer and Andrew Blechman is a correspondent.