Update, May 1: County prosecutors have charged 34-year-old Daniel Widyanto Condronimpuno in connection with a nine-day spree of reported sexual attacks in April.
Condronimpuno, 34, of Palm Beach, Florida, was already facing felony charges in Santa Clara County.
UC Berkeley police arrested Condronimpuno on April 11 and transferred him to the custody of the Palo Alto Police Department. University police continued their investigation in the meanwhile.
University police believe Condronimpuno was involved in nine separate incidents of sexual battery and other violent attacks in and around the Berkeley campus.
So far, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has charged Condronimpuno with three counts of misdemeanor sexual battery, one each from incidents on April 5, 8 and 9, according to court records. The charges were filed Friday.
University police were able to identify Condronimpuno when a tipster told them he had entered his number into the tipster’s phone as “Dan,” police said. Investigators matched the number to his full name and confirmed his identity through DMV records and the university’s CalPhotos database, they said.
Prosecutors in Santa Clara County charged Condronimupuno with six felony counts, including three of sexual assault, for an April 9 attack they believe he committed in a pedestrian underpass in Palo Alto.
Condronimpuno “crept behind the victim, violently shoving her to the ground, causing her to hit her head on the pavement,” Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Nik Warrior wrote in an April 19 statement. Condronimpuno “grabbed the victim’s throat and began to strangle her, as he sexually assaulted her,” Warrior wrote.
Condronimpuno has remained in custody without bail in Santa Clara County at the Elmwood Men’s Correctional Complex in Milpitas since university police first arrested him in Berkeley, according to jail records.
Original story, April 11: Campus police at UC Berkeley have made an arrest in a series of sexual assaults and batteries on campus that have taken place over the last week.
In a series of email alerts, university police said they were investigating two instances of sexual battery, a sexual assault and an aggravated assault they believed may have been related. The first took place Wednesday, the most recent Tuesday morning. A fifth victim was also robbed, but it is unclear if that incident is connected to the others.
On Tuesday afternoon, they said they had arrested a suspect, but that the “case is complex and still under investigation,” according to another email alert.
Police did not identify the suspect they had arrested, or specify whether he was suspected in one or more of the attacks.
Police had earlier released images of a suspect they believed may be involved and are seeking leads from anyone with information.
In the first incident, a student was in Eucalyptus Grove around 2:13 p.m. Wednesday when someone who “appeared to be a student” and “identified himself as ‘Chris'” touched her in an unwanted way, according to an email alert from university police.
“Chris,” who had black hair and was wearing a blue sweatshirt and blue pants, headed west toward downtown Berkeley, police said.
Three days later, at around 5:40 p.m. Saturday, a woman was walking near Memorial Stadium “when a man approached her from behind and placed his hands on her buttocks and breast,” according to another alert from university police. The man pushed her against a wall, but she was able to force him off and escape, police said.
After midnight that night, at around 1:21 a.m. Sunday, a woman was walking in the 2200 block of Hearst Avenue when a male suspect, wearing black pants and a white shirt, punched her in the head and stole her purse, according to university police. It is unclear if the robbery is connected to the other incidents.
Later Sunday morning, at around 9:40 a.m. near Stephens Hall, a suspect “grabbed a female student’s private body parts” through clothing, university police said.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, around 12:23 a.m., a woman was walking on the west side of the Foothill Complex when a suspect grabbed her from behind and knocked her to the ground, university police said.
“The victim fought back kicking the suspect and was then able to get away from the suspect,” according to an email alert from university police. Police are investigating whether this assault and the sexual assaults and batteries from Wednesday, Saturday and late Sunday morning were connected. It is unclear if the robbery may also have some connection.
University police asked anyone with information on the attacks, or who may know of similar incidents, to call them at 510-642-6760.
This story was updated after publication when new details became available.
