Homeless Man Steals Double Dolphin

Santa Barbara police arrested 21-year-old Phillip Everett Conway for allegedly stealing the Double Dolphin this morning and smashing much of its navigation equipment before falling asleep on board.

A citizen called the Harbor Patrol at 7:30 a.m. to report the Double Dolphin — a popular tourist catamaran that moors at Sea Landing — adrift in the marina, said police spokesperson Sgt. Riley Harwood. When Harbor Patrol officials boarded, they found Conway inside fast asleep.

An investigation revealed that Conway, a local transient familiar to police, had loosed the vessel’s mooring lines sometime during the night, then broken into a padlocked cabinet that houses its navigation and guidance systems. Conway proceeded to break several of the instruments, said Harwood. According to reports, Conway had been arrested in recent months for stealing another boat anchored in the harbor.

He’s been booked in County Jail on charges of grand theft of vessel and felony vandalism, said Harwood. His bail is set at $500,000.