Cal Students Warned After Series Of Assaults On Women
BERKELEY (CBS 5) - Police on the University of California's Berkeley are warning women to take extra safety precautions after a string of sexually -motivated incidents on campus last week.
Investigators at Cal said that four women were followed, robbed or groped and assaulted last week. At this point, it isn't clear if one or two suspects are responsible for the incidents, which all took place on the north end of campus.
"One is what I would term a violent assault," said Lt. Marc DeCoulode of the UC Police Department. "We have a strong commitment to id this person and bring him into custody before someone is more seriously injured."
A week ago Sunday, someone came up behind a student and grabbed her bottom. Later a woman noticed someone following her, so she hid in some bushes. On Thursday, another woman reported being grabbed by an unidentified man. Hours later, a woman was pulled into a secluded place where she was forced to perform a sexual act.
University and City of Berkeley Police were working together on the cases.
One suspect description is a white male in his late 20's with blond or light brown hair, an unshaven face, and what the victim described as "bad teeth." The man was wearing a red and white wool jacked and was about 5'6".
A second suspect description was a thin white man in his 20's with short brown hair wearing blue denim overalls and a green sweatshirt.
Few students who talked to CBS 5 Monday had heard of the incidents. Police distributed fliers around campus and were increasing patrols in the area. They also said students can request crime alerts by signing up for them at police.berkeley.edu.
Stanford Police are also looking for a man who broke into a graduate housing apartment on the University's campus Saturday evening and assaulted a woman sleeping inside.
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