A YouTuber who calls himself "Ghost," left, confronts Adam Escarcega, who was arrested in March on suspicion of attempting to meet with a minor. Escarcega has agreed to a plea deal and faces a one-year jail sentence.
A YouTuber who calls himself "Ghost," left, confronts Adam Escarcega, who was arrested in March on suspicion of attempting to meet with a minor. Escarcega has agreed to a plea deal and faces a one-year jail sentence. Credit: Joshua Molina / Noozhawk file photo

A man arrested after showing up at a Target department store in Goleta to meet with a minor pleaded guilty Wednesday to one felony count of intending to engage in lewd or lascivious behavior.

Adam Roberto Escarcega, 34, of Santa Barbara is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 17 in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.

“I’m not a fan of private companies supplanting themselves into the role of law enforcement,” said Joshua Zane Webb, Escarcega’s criminal defense attorney. “I think constitutional rights get sacrificed and the dotting of the ‘i’ and the crossing of the ‘t’ get left out of the mix.

“Mr. Escarcega clearly regrets his conduct with regard to the incident/situation.”

Escarcega engaged in more than 100 messages with a person whom he said he believed was a minor. The person really behind the messages was a YouTuber who calls himself “Ghost,” whose channel is called CC Unit, or “Creep Catching Unit.”

Ghost agreed to meet Escarcega at Target on March 17. Ghost confronted him about the meeting in a livestream on YouTube. They walked outside of the Target and talked for about an hour.

Unbeknownst to Escarcega, the people behind the messages had alerted the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, and deputies arrived on the scene. A string of texts presented by Ghost to the Sheriff’s Office indicated that Escarcega intended to meet with a 15-year-old boy. The Sheriff’s Office conducted its own investigation and arrested Escarcega.

Many of the other chat transcripts reveal graphic exchanges between the suspect and the person he believed to be a minor, but who was really Ghost behind the keyboard.

Ghost had driven to Goleta, about a four-hour trek from San Diego, to “catch” Escarcega, who at the time was employed at Adams Elementary School in Santa Barbara.

Ghost wears a mask during livestreamed confrontations to conceal his identity. He has participated in hundreds of confrontations on his YouTube channel that have led to arrests.

With a guilty plea, Escarcega faces up to one year in jail. He was not in custody as of Wednesday.



— Noozhawk South County editor Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.