Berkeley Suspect Approached Teen Girls Posing As Cop: Police

BERKELEY, CA – A 32-year-old man was arrested Wednesday in connection with two incidents in which he approached teenage girls walking to and from school attempting to gain their compliance by falsely telling them he was a law enforcement officer, the Berkeley Police Department said.

Christopher Lee Dalton of Oakland was arrested on suspicion of communicating with a minor with the intent to commit a sex act, annoying/molesting a child with a prior offense, and a parole violation, police said.

Dalton was not known to the victims, according to police.

On the evening of Sept. 29, the suspect followed a high school age teen in the 1300 block of Gilman Street on foot, engaged her in a conversation and then blocked her path, demanded a hug, and told her that he was a law enforcement officer and had a gun, police said.

On the morning of December 6th, the same suspect followed another girl on-foot in the area of McGee Avenue and Channing Way while on her way to school, police said.

In this case, the suspect again wanted a hug, told the girl he was a police officer, blocked her path in a less visible part of the sidewalk (where there were many plants and trees), and made a threat that he had a knife.

“Thankfully, in both cases, the girls were able to safely get away from the suspect,” police said in a statement.

While reviewing the video surveillance submitted to authorities by a community member, detectives saw that the suspect followed the teenage girls in his red Mustang for several blocks in both cases, police said.

A third victim who came forward Tuesday after reading a Berkeleyside article about the recent cases.

The incident involving the third teenage victim occurred on the morning of Aug. 25 — where the license plate of the suspect’s vehicle was photographed.

“Thanks to the detailed observations of these three teens, detectives were able to identify the suspect,” police said.

The CA Department of Parole, the Alameda County Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Task Force, aided in the suspect’s arrest Wednesday afternoon in San Francisco, police said.

Detectives then served a search warrant at the suspect’s temporary residence in Oakland, where they located several pieces of clothing that were worn during the commission of these crimes, police said.

Dalton has prior convictions child sex crimes going back to 2013 according to the state’s Megan’s Law website.