Authorities have charged a 20-year-old UC Berkeley student who was “active in the Greek system” with felony sex crimes involving two women in November 2017 and March 2019, according to court papers.
Finn Wolff of Berkeley was charged Thursday by the Alameda County district attorney’s office with three counts of forcible rape in relation to one victim, in 2017, and sexual battery and forced oral copulation in connection with another, in 2019, among other charges, court documents show. The 2017 incident took place at a fraternity in the 2400 block of Warring Street, police said.
In a statement Thursday, the Berkeley Police Department said it is “investigating multiple reports of sexual assaults” committed by Wolff: “In two of the sexual assaults, the victims were physically injured after being punched, grabbed and or bitten,” police wrote.
Police arrested Wolff on Tuesday, as Berkeleyside previously reported. Police described Wolff in Thursday’s statement as “a student at UC Berkeley” who “was active in the Greek system.” BPD said none of the reported assaults took place on campus. Wolff is expected to be arraigned Thursday, police said.
Police believe there may be additional victims and asked them to call BPD’s Sex Crimes Unit at 510-981-5717.
According to court documents, Wolff backed one of the women against a balcony railing and forced her to kiss him. When she tried to push him away, police wrote, he punched her in the eye and ribs, causing minor injuries. According to police, Wolff then forced the woman to orally copulate him. The woman was able to escape a short time later, according to police.
As police investigated that incident, another woman came forward to describe an incident in 2017 at a fraternity in the 2400 block of Warring Street. According to police, Wolff held the woman down “while he digitally penetrated her, orally copulated her and raped her. The victim was bitten multiple times during this assault. The victim sustained bruising on parts of her body and at least one bite broke the skin.”
Police arrested Wolff on Tuesday in the 2300 block of Warring Street, according to court papers.
The district attorney’s office charged Wolff with three counts of forcible rape, felony sexual penetration by a foreign object, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by a foreign object in connection with the Nov. 3, 2017, incident. He was charged with sexual battery by restraint and forced oral copulation in connection with the other incident, which took place from March 14-15, according to court papers.
Officer Byron White, Berkeley Police spokesman, said BPD is handling the investigation in cooperation with the university and the district attorney’s office. He said he was limited in what he could release about the case.
“There is concern about the victims’ privacy,” he said. “Additionally, it’s an ongoing investigation.”
According to Berkeley police records online, the March incident took place in the 2300 block of Warring, which is the same block as Wolff’s listed residence.
Wolff describes himself on his LinkedIn page as a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. The fraternity is located at 2424 Warring St. and is where the 2017 incident is alleged to have occurred.
Wednesday, Phi Kappa Psi Chapter President Parker Cardwell told Berkeleyside that Wolff is no longer a member of the fraternity and has no connection to it. Cardwell said Phi Kappa Psi was aware of the sex crime allegations and had removed Wolff from the chapter in December 2018 as a result of those reports.
Cardwell said it took some time for the survivor from the 2017 incident to come forward, but that the fraternity removed Wolff less than a month after it learned about those allegations.
Wolff “has no current affiliation whatsoever due to actions that go directly against our core beliefs,” Cardwell said in an email in response to a Berkeleyside inquiry. “Additionally, I would like to say that we as brothers of Phi Kappa Psi, absolutely do not condone or excuse any of these actions. We offer our support to these survivors and all survivors who have been affected by such horrible crimes. As a chapter, we have a firm zero tolerance policy on violence, of any kind, towards women.”
UC Berkeley spokeswoman Janet Gilmore said she could not say much about the case, as it is a police matter and because student records are protected by law.
“We do want to state that the allegations as described by law enforcement officials today are reprehensible and stand in stark contrast to our values as a campus community,” Gilmore said in a prepared statement. “The safety and well-being of our students is paramount. UC Berkeley is committed to ongoing efforts to prevent violence, to supporting survivors and their communities when violence has occurred, and to holding perpetrators accountable.”
Berkeleyside will update this story as additional information becomes available.
This story was updated shortly after publication to include location information provided by police, a statement from UC Berkeley and additional information related to Phi Kappa Psi.
