A man who worked in the restaurant of the DoubleTree at the Berkeley Marina has been charged with drugging a hotel guest in June and raping her in her room while she was unconscious, according to officials and court papers.
Isaac Amiga, 64, of San Leandro was charged Dec. 24, 2019, by the Alameda County district attorney’s office with two felony counts, which allege that a woman identified only as Jane Doe “was prevented from resisting” the rape “by an intoxicating, anesthetic, and controlled substance, and this condition was known, and reasonably should have been known by the defendant.” The rape took place June 5, according to court papers.
According to the Berkeley Police Department, BPD got a report in early June from a woman who had stayed at the DoubleTree. She said Amiga — a restaurant supervisor — paid for her dinner and drinks one night in the hotel restaurant, then gave her a free glass of wine. Later in the evening, according to BPD, she began “feeling weird and blacked out.” She woke up around 2 a.m. and Amiga was raping her, BPD said Tuesday in response to a Berkeleyside inquiry.
Amiga “consistently denied” he was in the woman’s room, denied touching her and denied having sex with her, according to BPD. But DNA tests matched sperm samples taken from the woman’s body to Amiga, according to police.
The woman also identified Amiga in a photo line-up, BPD said. On Dec. 20, police arrested him and took him to Berkeley Jail. He secured a bail bond soon after his arrest and was released. No bail amount was listed in records online.
A spokesman for the Doubletree by Hilton Berkeley Marina provided a prepared statement to Berkeleyside after publication.
“We have no higher priority than our guests’ personal safety. When we were notified by local authorities about this allegation we pledged our full and complete cooperation, which we have provided and will continue. Mr. Amiga was placed on administrative leave, and barred from the property, when we were notified of this allegation. He has since been terminated. Out of respect for the criminal justice process, we will have no further comment and defer to the authorities going forward.”
Both felony counts are described in court papers as serious ones. If Amiga is convicted, he would have to register as a sex offender, according to the documents.
Amiga is scheduled for a pretrial hearing Jan. 25 at the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland.
Note: Berkeleyside updated this story after publication to include a statement from the DoubleTree.
