Transient Arrested for Burglary
Adam Dale
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY — The community of Isla Vista, just north of the Santa Barbara city limits, lies immediately adjacent to one of America’s most geographically ideal university campuses and attracts high-caliber students from around the world.
With a student population of more than 30,000, however, UCSB doesn’t have sufficient housing facilities to accommodate all those enrolled in any given semester. As a result, Isla Vista serves as an informal housing “annex,” effectively a community populated by the very young.
Occasionally, however, some of those young people aren’t engaged in the academic life of UCSB, but are there to simply enjoy the relaxed youth culture and the welcoming climate while plying their criminal trade upon local area residents.
The November 26th arrest of 24-year-old Adam Winslow Dale on suspicion of residential burglary appears to be a case in point.
According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, Dale reported to Isla Vista Foot Patrol deputies by Isla Vista residents who described “a suspicious male subject” prowling around the neighborhood, “walking into a backyard and jumping fences.”
Responding deputies couldn’t find anyone matching that description, but they did find a backpack “containing property believed to have been recently stolen during a residential burglary.”
Shortly thereafter, deputies received yet another report of a suspicious male walking around in a nearby Isla Vista neighborhood.
Quickly reporting to that location, deputies found Dale—recognized as a local area transient—on a residential street in possession of another backpack.
A field search of Dale’s backpack revealed a pair of stolen MacBook laptops and an unspecified amount of methamphetamine, giving deputies all the reason they needed to arrest Dale and transport him to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was booked on charges of prowling, residential burglary, possession of stolen property, and possession of methamphetamine.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail booking
