Photo: Denise Dale
Ventura County – It wasn’t long after America was bombarded by a rampant media blitz detailing the allegations of sexual misconduct and predatory behavior on the part of notable entertainment industry and political figures that women around the world began detailing their experiences as victims of male oppression and predation.
Sometimes, however, the shoe may be on the other foot. An indication of the ubiquitous nature of the problem of unwanted and inappropriate displays of interest in others may be those circumstances leading to the February 28th arrest of 58-year-old Camarillo resident Denise Dale.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sr. Deputy Shawn Holzberger, it was two days prior that the staff of the Camarillo Heights Elementary School learned that a young female student “had been befriended by an older unknown female while walking home from school,” and had actually been given a ride home by the suspect. With little to go on in terms of identifying this individual, Camarillo Police detectives advised the school to put “protocols” into place “should the subject be seen in the area.”
It was at the end of the school day as students were being released from classes, that Dale entered the school grounds and indicated that she was “a relative who was supposed to pick up” the targeted victim of her interest.
With the aforementioned protocols now operational, the school staff immediately summoned the cops who arrived on scene just minutes later. Contact was promptly made with Dale, with the ensuing interview and a “thorough investigation” in to the facts of the matter establishing that no physical contact had ever occurred between Dale and the young girl, she was promptly taken into custody, arrested, and transported to Ventura County Jail where she was booked on a charge of Child Annoying.
The nature of this crime prompted Holzberger to publish a “Stranger Danger” warning to area parents, urging them to contact the Ventura County Sheriff at the first sign of threat or danger to school age children.
