Christian Gallo-Delgado and James McKee
SANTA BARBARA — Perhaps it’s time to acknowledge that a modern liberal arts education may be in danger of becoming just a bit “too liberal.”
That may in fact be a reasonable conclusion to draw following the arrests of Santa Barbara City College undergraduate students Christian Gallo-Delgado, 20, and his 22-year-old roommate James McKee in the early morning hours of March 14th.
Both arrests are the product of an investigation into what Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover described to the media as “a string of residential burglaries” late in the evening of March 13th in the Isla Vista community adjacent to the UCSB campus.
While that initial investigation was ongoing, UCSB Police Officers received a report of another burglary that had just occurred elsewhere in Isla Vista on Abrego Road.
Victims of that incident reported a pair of males had entered their residence and “fled out the front door” with expensive photographic equipment.
As SBSD Deputies and Isla Vista Foot Patrol Officers were in the process of conducting their investigation into this series of incidents, they received information that a pair of suspects matching witness descriptions “were checking door handles” of parked vehicles throughout the area.
Acting on that tip, Deputies “responded to the area and made contact with the suspects who then fled on foot.”
Apparently Gallo-Delgado is not going to be competing in the Brasil Olympics, as he was quickly apprehended by deputies and taken into custody.
McKee, perhaps a bit more fleet of foot, managed to evade deputies for a short while, but was later contacted and arrested at his nearby apartment residence.
A search warrant for the residence of the two men was quickly obtained and served, whereupon substantial evidence of their nefarious work was found, including “a flat screen television, several designer purses and miscellaneous electronics.”
Both Gallo-Delgado and McKee were transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where Gallo-Delgado was charged with two counts of first degree burglary and McKee was charged with possession of stolen property, destruction of evidence, and being an accessory to a crime.
Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
