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An actual-life nightmare crept right into a sorority home close to UC Berkeley over Halloween weekend: a person in a ski masks who authorities mentioned slipped by means of bedrooms and lurked in showers at the hours of darkness.
One girl was jolted awake by a darkish determine close to her mattress, based on Berkeley Police Officer Byron White. One other was within the bathe when she was focused by a Peeping Tom, police mentioned.
Authorities mentioned the terrifying occasions unfolded from round 3 to six:35 a.m. on Nov. 1, hours after a lot of the campus had been busy celebrating Halloween. The intruder then left the scene of the break-in with stolen underwear and pizza, White mentioned.
Officers just lately arrested 45-year-old Courtney Alford of Dublin in reference to the sorority home break-in, based on the Berkeley Police Division. Once they searched the suspect’s house, they discovered assault rifle elements, high-capacity ammunition magazines and greater than 900 rounds of ammunition.
On Thursday, Alford was charged with housebreaking, peeking, invading privateness, possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of ammunition by a felon and trespassing, based on court docket data. He has pleaded not responsible to all counts filed towards him.
Alford has an in depth prison historical past in Alameda County, with circumstances stretching again to 1998. He beforehand was discovered responsible of housebreaking, grand theft, assault with a lethal weapon, making prison threats and evading a peace officer, amongst different prices.
He additionally pleaded not responsible to 2 counts of lewd acts upon a baby below 14 filed towards him in March 2024, based on court docket data. That case stays open.
“He’s somebody that’s recognized to the Berkeley Police Division nicely sufficient that an officer acknowledged him from one” of the surveillance photographs, White mentioned.
On Nov. 1, Berkeley police responded to a name at a sorority home within the 2300 block of Warring Road concerning a person who was seen inside a ladies’s bed room.
“This younger woman was in her mattress asleep, alongside together with her three different roommates, and he or she awoke and there was this particular person inside her room,” White mentioned. “It’s understandably stunning and scary.”
Safety video from the house confirmed the suspect strolling each inside and outdoors the constructing, at one level returning in a brand new set of garments and a ski masks, police mentioned.
White mentioned investigators spoke with at the very least three victims. However he famous that about 65 ladies have been residing in the home, all of whom have been most likely affected by Alford’s alleged actions.
“Simply the data that any person had been inside the house like that,” the officer mentioned, “going into bedrooms, taking underwear, watching individuals bathe, regardless if that was you or not, it does shake your sense of security.”
A UC Berkeley spokesperson mentioned that the varsity was conscious of the incident at an off-campus sorority and that the coed affairs workforce was offering assets to the group.
Berkeley police used computerized license plate readers to trace Alford’s automobile within the space earlier than and after the housebreaking. They positioned him in Castro Valley on Wednesday and arrested him.
He’s being held on the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in lieu of $275,000 bail and is due again in court docket Nov. 18.
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