A 23-year-old man wanted in connection with a sexual assault on the UC Berkeley campus was arrested by authorities in Tennessee over the weekend after a report of a domestic dispute.
The Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, which had previously identified Sheldon Harley Johnson as a wanted fugitive now lists him as “captured.”
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According to NCRIC, he had been wanted for a sexual assault on the Cal campus. No other details about that case were posted.
The University of California Police Department declined Tuesday to provide any information about that incident, but said it would be putting out a crime alert at some point.
The Daily News Journal, which is based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, reported Tuesday morning that Johnson was arrested during a call involving a domestic dispute over the weekend.
When a local police officer responded, Johnson wasn’t there, and a woman told police there had been no fight. When Johnson did arrive, he too said nothing had happened. But police ran a records check and found the warrant for his arrest, according to the Daily News Journal.
Johnson “will be extradited and he is being held without bond for that purpose,” according to the report. Berkeleyside has asked the Murfreesboro Police Department for confirmation.
Police in Berkeley have recently been looking for a man linked to several sexual assaults around campus in the Southside neighborhood. The Berkeley Police Department is handling that investigation, and there was no indication Tuesday that Johnson’s arrest was related to that case.
Update, March 31: One week after Berkeleyside asked UCPD for further information about this arrest, the agency released a statement. It appears below.
On Friday, April 8, 2011 a female UC Berkeley student was the victim of a sexual assault and robbery in the vicinity of Haviland Grove. Recently UCPD developed new leads which led to the identification of Sheldon Harley Johnson as the sexual assault suspect and obtained a felony warrant for his arrest. Johnson was arrested on the UCPD warrant in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on Saturday, March 19, 2016 and is pending extradition back to California.
This is a joint effort between UCPD, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Kentucky U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, and the Lexington (KY) PD. We would also like to thank the Murfreesboro (TN) Police Department for their assistance in taking Johnson into custody on the UCPD felony warrant.
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