Berkeley man charged with sex crime chain in Berkeley, Albany, Oakland
Officials say four out of five sex crimes occurred in Berkeley and Albany this week between March 30 and Tuesday. credit: Google Maps/Berkeleyside
A 44-year-old notary public from Berkeley was charged with eight felony counts Friday after investigating a sex crime series involving at least five victims, two of whom were attending school in Albany, officials report. .
Tommy Giles Jr. Credits: BPD
Police say the first incident in the series took place on March 30 when a man allegedly attacked a 9-year-old child in Albany with a knife. This was followed by a sexual assault on Colusa Avenue in Berkeley in mid-April, when a man said he had a knife and forced a woman to have verbal sex. Police in Oakland had received a similar report about an incident in their hometown on April 29.
In the days and weeks following the Colusa sexual assault, several community members asked Berkeleyside and speculated online, including NextDoor and Facebook, whether the Berkeley and Albany incidents might be related. As of this week, officials declined to comment on the subject, citing the ongoing investigation, which has been very active.
Then, according to community and police reports, around 12:15 pm on Saturday, a man grabbed the breast of a 60-year-old woman on Cedar Street near Stanage Avenue. Days later, on Tuesday, a man with similar description sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl who was on her way to school in Albany.
According to online arrest records, the multi-agency investigation eventually led police to arrest Tommy Lee Giles Jr. on suspicion of oral sex, kidnapping for committing a sex offense, and sexual battery at his Berkeley home. The Alameda County District Attorney’s office on Friday charged Giles with eight crimes and two misdemeanors related to a series of sex crimes.
Police said DNA, clothing and other evidence linked Giles to sex crimes, and he “admitted just about every case” during interviews with BPD detectives this week.
Back in April, when police announced the Colusa incident and asked for suggestions from the community, Berkeleyside began hearing from readers who hoped for more information and questioned whether a recent report from Albany might be related.
In that first incident, according to a brief community notification in March from Albany PD, a parent told police that “their child was attacked on the way to school” on March 30. The APD said there would be “additional patrols for the routes”. Children can be taken to and from schools,” but did not release any other details.
A community member familiar with the incident provided a bit more information in an online forum: He said that an elementary school student had an encounter with a stranger near Washington and Talbot Avenues at 8 a.m.: “The stranger said he had a knife. and it will hurt [the child] If [they] Screamed.”
On Friday, police shared several additional details about that case. A 9-year-old was walking the 700 block of Talbot between 8 and 8:30 a.m. on March 30, when a stranger came up to him and said he knew the shortcut to school. He then took the child between two buildings, said he had a knife and sexually assaulted them.
(Citing out of caution, police declined to share the gender of any of the children.)
Then, on April 14, at 1 p.m. a woman was walking on Colusa, between Visalia Avenue and Thousand Oaks Boulevard, when a stranger approached her from behind. He told the woman that he had a knife and then sexually assaulted her, police said earlier.
On Friday, police said the 23-year-old woman was walking near the 500 block of Colusa when a stranger forced her into the secluded yard of an empty house about 150 feet away and forced her to verbally copulate. did.
The man fled the area on foot. The BPD said the police did not find him but collected evidence at the scene.
Several parents who read about both incidents said local officials should do more to alert the community about them in April so families can take extra steps to stay safe. Word about the troubling crimes spread quickly in online forums and informal networks in Berkeley and Albany.
“I’m annoyed that BUSD hasn’t alerted families to this,” one mother told Berkeleyside in April. “We live close to Thousand Oaks Elementary and our girls go to school there. When I saw a policeman the other day he said he wouldn’t feel comfortable walking his kids down the block without supervision.
Others said they wished police were doing more to keep the community informed of progress in the investigation.
But, although the BPD said little publicly after the Colusa attack, detectives continued to work on the case.
The next incident occurred in Oakland on April 29 between 9:20 a.m. and 9:40 a.m., the BPD said Friday. A 23-year-old woman was walking on 51st Street when a stranger passed by the man. Police said the man grabbed her and threatened her with a knife. He then dragged her behind a large bush on the property of a nearby home and forced her to verbally copulate, the BPD said.
BPD: Suspicious woman’s photo helped solve the case
Then, on Saturday, a 60-year-old woman told police that a man had caught her on Cedar near Stanage around 12:15 a.m. She also posted details of the incident on NextDoor and shared any security footage from neighbors. asked me to do. copes with.
Her description included a photo online that she took of the back of the man who held her.
The woman’s post attracted significant interest around town — including from a Berkeley resident who recognized Giles and told police Monday who he was.
Police said the woman later identified Giles as the man who had captured her during a photo lineup organized by the BPD.
On Tuesday, the Albany Police Department issued a notice about a 14-year-old child who was on her way to school at around 8:30 a.m. when a stranger, who said she had a knife, grabbed them and turned 400 sexually harassed her. The block of Evelyn Avenue near Brighton Avenue. Again, the APD said officers were “providing additional patrols for routes that may take children to and from schools.”
The Albany Unified School District gave parents its “immediate safety notification” in English, Spanish and Chinese on Tuesday afternoon. AUSD said a student was confronted that morning on his way to school, but he was safe and police were investigating.
Later that day, police arrested Giles on suspicion of sexual battery on Cedar. According to the BPD, he was interviewed and admitted his involvement.
Police also obtained more information and evidence – including Giles’ DNA – during the interview.
Giles managed to post bail after being interviewed on Wednesday in the rape case.
But then, on Thursday, Berkeley sex crimes detectives found a DNA match for Giles, which linked him to both the Colusa case and the May 24 incident in Albany, the BPD said.
Detectives arrested him again on Thursday and searched his home, where they found “evidence including clothing recovered for each of these cases”.
Long list of charges filed
On Friday, the DA’s office charged Giles with a long list of serious crimes, according to court records reviewed by Berkeleyside.
Giles faces two felony counts and one misdemeanor in connection with a March 30 report from Albany: forced oral sex on a child under the age of 14, forcible lewd acts on a child, and indecent exposure (abuse).
He is facing two serious counts in connection with the sexual assault on Colusa: assault with intent to commit a sexual offense and forced oral sex.
Giles is also facing serious charges of restrained, forced oral sex and sexual battery in connection with the April 29 incident in Oakland.
In connection with Tuesday’s report in Albany, he has also been charged with two felony counts — kidnapping to commit a sex offense and abusing a child.
The other misdemeanor allegation of sexual battery stems from the Cedar incident last weekend.
All felony charges also included a number of specific allegations, including that the defendant used a weapon, that the victim was particularly vulnerable, and that the conduct was violent. If Giles is convicted, and those charges are found to be true, he could face severe punishment.
According to online court records, Giles has no prior arrests or criminal charges in Alameda County. He is being held without bail at the Santa Rita Prison in Dublin and is scheduled to appear at the East County Hall of Justice on Tuesday.
According to CrimeMapping.com, a repository for local police data, twenty-nine sex crimes — 17 of which are listed as felonies — have been filed in Berkeley in the past six months.
Police encourage other potential victims to come forward
On Friday, the Albany PD said it recognized how dangerous the attacks were to the community, which usually has far less serious crimes.
“The Albany Police Department understands the concern these cases have on our community and would like to thank the public for their patience as we investigated these crimes,” the agency said in a statement. “We would also like to thank the Berkeley Police Department for their cooperation and work working to get this person into custody.”
The BPD thanked the Oakland and Albany Police Departments for their cooperation and also the Serological Research Institute in Richmond for the forensic work that stitched the cases together.
In its statement Friday, the BPD asked anyone with information relevant to the investigation to call the sex crimes unit at .
The BPD also indicated that there may be more victims who have not yet been exposed, and urged them to report by phone to the BPD in their city, or their respective police agency.
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