Exec In Coma After Beating At Beanie Baby Mogul's Mansion; Intruder Charged: Reports

MONTECITO, CA — A Nevada man is charged with attempted murder after he broke into the Montecito home of the head of the Beanie Babies empire, beat a financial executive into a coma and barricaded himself in a bathroom, according to reports.

Charges against 42-year-old Russell Maxwell Phay include attempted murder, burglary, assault, kidnapping and resisting emergency personnel, authorities said. Phay broke into the home, which was occupied by mogul Ty Warner and Linda Malek-Aslanian, a former asset manager for Warner’s hotels and resorts, according to a criminal complaint and the Santa Barbara Independent.

Deputies responded around 4:30 p.m. May 21 to the 1000 block of Fairway Road, where they found a woman severely injured outside the residence, police said. Authorities established a perimeter and crisis negotiators with armored vehicles reported to the scene, according to police.

Phay barricaded himself in an upstairs bathroom and tried to flee by climbing out a second-story window, but, when he jumped to the ground he was apprehended by deputies and a K-9, police said.

Malek-Aslanian was left “comatose due to brain injury,” according to the complaint.

There’s no evidence Phay knew the home was Warner’s, according to the Independent, which reported Phay claimed the residence belonged to him. Phay pleaded not guilty to the charges, the newspaper reported.

Phay is an Army veteran with specialized weapons training, the San Francisco Chronicle reported in a 2014 column about a local veterans court. Before 2014, he had threatened his wife and served time in prison, according to the newspaper.

“I am fully trained for combat,” he told the Chronicle. “I have been trained to eliminate you. I know that sounds crazy, but it is true.”