Photo: Nicholas E. Wilkins
BERKELEY— A man has been arrested twice in less than two weeks. His most recent arrest was on suspicion of burglary and rape, and he remains in custody in lieu of $125,000 bond.
Police were dispatched to investigate a prowler in the San Pablo Park neighborhood in the early hours of November 1. A man was reported peering inside a girl’s bedroom window on the 2800 block of Wallace Street.
While officers were investigating the reported prowler, they heard a woman screaming for help nearby. Officers rushed towards and located the screaming woman, who told them an intruder was inside her home.
Neither the girl nor woman knows the man, later identified as 39-year-old Nicholas E. Wilkins, a resident of Berkeley. However, authorities are familiar with him.
The woman told police that she was awakened by the man inside her bedroom. He was naked from the waist down. After running outside, she waited while officers entered her home and searched for him.
Officers located Wilkins hiding inside and they found pants belonging to him. Wilkins was subsequently arrested at 2:20 a.m. He was booked into Santa Rita Jail.
Wilkins faces charges for rape and second-degree burglary for what happened on November 1. That’s in addition to charges involving a few earlier incidents.
Wilkins was arrested October 23 for conspiracy, caretaker theft from an elder, forgery and (uttering) attempting to cash a fictitious check. He was released from custody for zero bail that time to protect him from potential exposure to Covid.
The suspect also has other prior arrests for receiving or concealing stolen property, and for uttering fictitious checks.
