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Rape Suspect Arraigned 

A transient has been charged with 12 counts of felony rape and other sexual crimes in connection with three attacks in Albany and Berkeley earlier this year. 

Lonnie Torres, 36, was arrested by Berkeley police on Feb. 22 for possession of methamphetamine, stolen property and for obstructing a police officer. Realizing that Torres matched the suspect sketch for the rapist, patrol officers called in detectives, according to a released statement by Berkeley Police Public Information Officer Joe Okies. 

On Wednesday Torres was arraigned on five counts of rape and sexual assault, four counts of kidnapping and three counts of robbery. 

The charges stem from three attacks that took place in January and February. In the early morning hours of Jan. 12, two victims were confronted at gunpoint on Key Route Boulevard in Albany, Okies wrote. One victim was sexually assaulted and both were robbed. The second attack occurred late in the evening on Feb. 7. A woman was attacked trying to enter her house, but managed to break free from the attacker and call police. The third case occurred at about 7 a.m. Feb. 11 when a woman was raped and sexually assaulted at gunpoint on Delaware Street near San Pablo Avenue. 

Daytime Shooting 

Neighbors called police to respond to a shooting on the 1400 block Oregon Street Tuesday. Police found the 29-year-old victim lying in the street with a bullet wound in his thigh. 

Witnesses at the Spiral Gardens outdoor market at Sacramento and Oregon streets said while the victim was inside a car with the suspects they heard a gunshot. Canchan Miller said the victim was then shoved from the car onto the street. 

“He was just lying on the ground taking it,” Miller said, adding that she approached the victim to find him talking on his cell phone. “He just kept breathing hard trying to keep it together. He didn't want an ambulance or the cops or anybody involved.” 

Police say the driver and another passenger in the car, a white Chrysler, continued west on Oregon Street before turning onto Stanton Street. 

Daniel Miller, who runs Spiral Gardens, said daytime shootings were not uncommon in his neighborhood. The most recent one before Tuesday’s, he recalled, happened two months ago when a man was shot waiting for a bus on Sacramento Street. 

Accosted Pedestrian 

Two men, one flashing a silver pistol, approached a pedestrian near the corner of Ashby Avenue and Seventh Street on the afternoon of April 19 and demanded cash. 

Their victim complied, and the bandits sped away in a beige Datsun 280Z, said Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Steve Rego. 

Beaned at Drop In Center 

A nurse at Alta Bates Hospital called police after a 23-year-old man wandered into the emergency room at 5:30 p.m. of April 20 with injuries and indicated he’d been struck on the nose with something very hard. 

Police arriving at the scene discovered that the weapon had been a can of frijoles refritos, wielded by an erstwhile friend the victim declined to identify. 

Scream for Help 

A resident of the 1700 block of Parker Street at 8:30 p.m. on April 20 to report that a woman had been screaming in the neighborhood. 

Officers discovered that the cries came from a 34-year-old woman who had been struck by one of two young men who approached her as she was sitting in her car. 

The victim told officers that the assailant had struck her, then tried to get her money. When she resisted, the two thugs departed. 

Stone Assault 

Police were called to San Pablo Park last Saturday morning after a caller reported a rock assault that had taken place in the park a day earlier. 

The perpetrator turned out to be a 12-year-old boy who had hurled his igneous missile at a 13-year-old. No arrests were made, said Officer Rego. 

iPod Robbery 

A pedestrian strolling along Dwight Way near Martin Luther King Jr. Way called police Saturday afternoon after a young man in a red sweatshirt flashed a knife and demanded his iPod. 

The victim surrendered his music machine and the robber hot-footed it outta there. 

Gang of Three 

Three robbers—one woman and two men—braced a pedestrian on Channing Way near San Pablo Avenue early Sunday morning. One slugged him in the jaw as they made off with his wallet and cell phone. 

They were last seen fleeing on foot. 

Carjackers 

Two adults and a teenager confronted a woman standing next to her car at the 76 Station at Seventh Street and Ashby Avenue Monday afternoon. 

The youngest of the three pulled a long-barrelled black pistol and aimed it at the woman and the trio made off with her 2004 Monte Carlo. 

The car was discovered later, abandoned on Eastshore Boulevard, said Officer Rego. No suspects have been arrested. 

Flees in Cab 

A middle aged robber with a limp entered the Bank of America at 2929 Shattuck Ave. and presented a note demanding cash. The teller complied, and the suspect then stepped outside and into a waiting cab. 

Police quickly located the cab and arrested a 39-year-old suspect on robbery charges. 

Grade School Knife Flasher 

Berkeley Police were summoned to Le Conte School Tuesday morning after the principal called to report that a 7-year-old second-grade boy had brandished a pocket knife at a 7-year-old girl. 

Police made no arrest, and the young offender was turned over to his parents.