Isla Vista – Legendary Depression Era stickup artist Willie Sutton is said to have robbed banks because “that’s where the money is.” Perhaps because Isla Vista’s UCSB campus is populated by thousands of nubile coeds and “that’s where the girls are,” sex crimes within walking distance of the university itself have become increasingly frequent.
Evidence of this appears to have occurred just after midnight January 18th when, according to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, Isla Vista Foot Patrol Deputies and University of California Police Department Officers responded to a reported convenience store theft. Upon arrival, deputies “contacted a group which included three young males who were walking in the area and matched the descriptions of the suspects,” Hoover reported. The three young men were detained for questioning, and one of them, a 15-year-old Oxnard resident, was identified by store employees as being the thief. The juvenile was than placed into custody and arrested on charges of shoplifting.
Casey Avila
Concurrently, an unrelated report of a sexual assault in another Isla Vista neighborhood was being made by a citizen who claimed to have witnessed an attack upon a young UCSB coed. When the witness was taken to the scene of the convenience store arrest, the three young men were promptly identified as being the perpetrators of the reported sexual assault. Based upon that positive field identification, Casey Avila, 22, Charles Dunbar, 18, and the juvenile were arrested and charges with “Rape in Concert which is charged when two or more people act together to commit rape and/or other sexual assaults,” Hoover reported.
The alleged 18-year-old victim was transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital for treatment of minor injuries, while Avila and Dunbar were booked on the aforementioned charges with no bail specified at this time.
Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
Read more:
KTLA: 3 young men accused in rape of UCSB coed
VCStar: Oxnard teen, 2 others arrested in SB sexual assault
Noozhawk: two men, teen arrested in Isla Vista sexual assault
