Man charged with rape of woman in the Berkeley Hills
On Sunday night, the woman showed up in the 700 block of Woodhaven Road, off Sunset Lane near Tilden park, asking residents for help.
A man was charged this week with raping a woman in his Cadillac in the Berkeley Hills after picking her up downtown and saying he would give her a ride, authorities report.
On Sunday, multiple people began calling police about a woman in her 40s who showed up in the 700 block of Woodhaven Road, off Sunset Lane, asking for help at about 9:20 p.m., Berkeley police said in response to a Scanner inquiry.
When officers arrived, the woman said the man picked her up between 7-9 p.m. near Civic Center Park, according to police and radio traffic. She said she had not met the man before, according to radio traffic.
Once the woman was in the Cadillac, police said, the suspect changed course and drove to the Berkeley Hills, stopping on Wildcat Canyon Road.
After the sexual assault, police said, the man let the woman go and left.
When she began asking for help, one neighbor brought the woman inside while another called police.
The man drove off in an older white Cadillac and Berkeley police began trying to find it, according to radio traffic.
About 20 minutes after the original call for help, Berkeley patrol officers spotted the Cadillac still in the Berkeley Hills near Spruce Street and Glen Avenue, about 1.4 miles from Woodhaven, police said.
"The male driver is acting kind of suspicious," an officer reported over the radio.
Paula Funaki. BPD
Police identified the driver as Paula Funaki, a 24-year-old Hayward man.
He was arrested on suspicion of multiple felonies.
On Tuesday, the Alameda County district attorney's office charged Funaki with rape, forcible oral copulation and kidnapping to commit a sex crime, according to court records.
He is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday morning, according to jail records. He remains in custody but no bail amount was listed.
There have been about 110 sex crimes in Berkeley this year: 56 felonies, 35 misdemeanors and 18 involving a juvenile where the alleged severity was not listed in the available BPD data.
Last year over the same period, more than 170 sex crimes had been reported: 91 felonies, 55 misdemeanors and 26 involving juveniles.
