Police make arrest in UC Berkeley sex crime case
UCPD obtained a warrant for Andrew McNear's arrest on suspicion of kidnapping and assault to commit rape or some other sex crime.
Police have arrested the suspect in a UC Berkeley sex crime case that made headlines earlier this week.
On Friday shortly after midnight, police arrested 33-year-old Andrew McNear at Ninth and Harrison streets in northwest Berkeley.
The Berkeley Police Department spotted McNear and detained him before quickly turning him over to the University of California Police Department.
The Scanner heard emergency dispatches about the arrest as it happened and asked police for information a short time later.
Authorities had been looking for McNear since getting a report Tuesday night about a man who pulled a woman off her bike and told her he wanted to sexually assault her.
Emilie Raguso
The woman was able to get away by pepper-spraying the assailant, police said previously.
The incident happened between Eighth and 10th streets next to the baseball fields at University Village in Albany.
The 58-acre complex run by UC Berkeley has nearly 1,000 apartments and townhouses largely geared toward Cal students with families, according to campus materials.
After Tuesday's report, UCPD obtained a warrant for McNear's arrest on suspicion of kidnapping and assault to commit rape or some other sex crime.
He was also reportedly on probation at the time of his arrest.
According to Alameda County court records, McNear was charged just last month with arson, domestic violence and false imprisonment, all felonies, as well as recklessly setting an inhabited structure on fire, which was listed as a misdeameanor.
A Jan. 17 plea deal put him on a three-year probation term.
Even before the arson case, McNear had already been on unsupervised probation in Alameda County for an auto burglary conviction last year, according to court records.
As of Friday, McNear is being held at Santa Rita Jail with a bail of $150,000, according to booking records.
He is scheduled for arraignment Tuesday at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.
The Scanner has requested a booking photograph of McNear from authorities and will add it to this story if it becomes available.
UCPD did not respond to requests for information Friday morning.
Update, 12:50 p.m. Minutes ago, UCPD put out a WarnMe notice about the arrest, noting that the woman "was somewhat acquainted with McNear and was able to help UCPD identify him."
The case has been forwarded to the DA's office for review.
