Features

Strong-arm robbery 

Albany police arrested one man and are seeking a second suspect in a strong-arm robbery that took place late Monday night at UC Berkeley’s University Village, 600 Gooding Way, Albany. 

According to UC Berkeley Police Chief Mitchell Celaya III, the victim of the 11:55 p.m. robbery was a 34-year-old woman who is not a student at the school. 

The woman was working on her laptop computer near the village’s Building 144 when two men approached and began hitting her in the face.  

After they had beaten her into submission, one grabbed her computer and the pair then fled westbound on Ohlone Avenue. 

Moments later, Albany Police arrested 19-year-old William Larnell Hall in front of the Oceanview School, 1000 Jackson St.  

After a positive identification by the woman, Hall was taken into custody as both UCPD and Albany officers searched without success for the second man. 

Celaya reported that the woman was not seriously injured by her attacker. 

Police ask that anyone with information about the crime to call UCPD’s Criminal Investigation Bureau at 642-0472 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or 642-6760 after hours. 

Groper 

Though the incident occurred Sept. 4, campus police waited seven days to release a bulletin seeking help in identifying a suspect in the sexual battery of an unidentified woman near the UC Berkeley campus. 

According to the bulletin, the incident began at 2:10 a.m. after the woman spotted a man following her as she was walking west along Dwight Way. 

As she turned onto Dana Street, the man approached her and tried to strike up a conversation, then pulled her clothing and groped her. 

The woman fled on foot, and reaching her home called 911, triggering a search by campus and city police. 

The woman, who was uninjured, described the assailant as a short, possibly intoxicated man in his 30s.