by Kevin Cody
Albert Calibet worked as a Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff for 20 years, until his retirement in 2018. He never moved up in rank.
“I don’t want a desk job. I want to be in the field. I like the excitement.” the 58-year-old Basque immigrant told friends.
Calibet was a tough Deputy. Much of his patrol time was in South Central Los Angeles, “Chasing people, jumping over fences,” he said. He had the sideways nose of a boxer, which he regarded with pride.
He also worked smart. Some of his time was in West Hollywood, in a one man patrol car. “Every night there were fights outside the bars. One officer couldn’t stop them. So I let them wear themselves out, then arrest them,” he said.
Calibet lives two blocks up from the beach, in Hermosa Beach. He stays in shape running in the soft sand, and swimming year-round in the ocean, never with a wetsuit.
“He is magnetic,” said longtime friend, and neighbor Robin Winston-Leon.
“He feeds stray cats and keeps a water bowl and treats in his front yard for passing dogs. He fought the city when it took away the sidewalk in front of our homes, but he loves Hermosa,” Winston-Leon said.
Calibet used his modest Deputy Sheriff salary to invest in real estate. He owns his Hermosa home, and in partnership with his younger brother, Oliver, acquired Hermosa rental properties. He and his family also own a chalet in Courchevel, in the French Alps where he skis in winter; and an apartment on the Pamplona Plaza de Torres, which he rents to CNN while he runs with the bulls.
He doesn’t flash is wealth. He travels to Europe every summer, “with a backpack and two pairs of shorts,” Winston-Leon said.
This week, Winston-Leon’s home was turned into a search command center. As of Thursday night, Calibet has been missing for 72 hours.
Calibet left for Mykonos last week, in the Aegean Sea, where he has started his summer vacations for decades. From there, he planned to go to his mother’s home in the Basque Country near St. Jean de Luz. He had picked out a farm there he hoped to buy, with thoughts of opening a restaurant on the property.
But before leaving for Basque Country he went to see friends on the Greek Island of Amorgos, which is similar in length, width and elevation to Catalina Island.
Monday morning (Tuesday night, Pacific Time), he set out on a hike on Amorgos, from the Bay of Aegiali, on the east end of the island, to the town of Katapola Amorgos, in the middle of the Island. He sent his sister a cellphone photo of the sign at the trailhead. That was the last he has been heard from.
He planned to meet a friend at the end of the hike for lunch. He had made the four hour hike many times. The friend reported Calibet missing that afternoon to the local police.
“It’s strange because he is not a person who walked the route for the first time. He knows Amorgos better than me,” Amorgos Deputy Mayor Calliope Despotidi told the Greek Reporter newspaper. Despotidi said Calibet was well known among the islanders from his many visits.
Much of Greece is on a heat alert this week because of temperatures reaching 107 degrees. Three tourists hiking on the Cyclade Islands, which include Mykonos and Amorgos, have reportedly died while hiking in recent days. Schools in Athens and the Acropolis are closed this week because of the heat.
Calibet’s girlfriend, Debbie LeShane, his brother, Oliver, and two Los Angeles search and rescue experts flew to Athens Thursday morning (Pacific Time).
They arrived in Athens at 9 a.m. Athens time, and hope to reach Amorgos by early afternoon, after another flight, and a boat trip.
Oliver Calibet said he’s been frustrated by both the Greek authorities and U.S. embassy responses.
“The Greeks don’t search at night. But now the international press has jumped on the story, they are stepping up their efforts,” he said while waiting in the Athens airport. ER
