Dog seizure preceded Berkeley Animal Shelter fire
After the fire, police say arson suspect Peter Taraba flooded the shelter and then flooded the toilet in his Berkeley jail cell.
The man police say started a fire at the Berkeley Animal Shelter last weekend, and later tried to flood it, had his dog taken during a recent arrest, The Scanner has learned.
Berkeley police initially arrested Peter Taraba last week Friday, June 5, on suspicion of vandalism, BPD said in response to a Scanner inquiry.
That day, police responded to downtown Berkeley at about 6:15 p.m. after Taraba punctured the tire of someone's bicycle in the 1900 block of Shattuck Avenue, according to police and public records.
The victim identified Taraba and police arrested him, taking his dog to the Berkeley Animal Shelter, BPD said.
Police have not released a motive for the shelter fire, but it took place the following night.
Several days later, on Wednesday at about 11:30 p.m., police say Taraba jumped the fence at the shelter and accessed the outdoor dog room.
According to BPD, that's where he opened an external water faucet, flooding the dog room as well as the first-floor building interior.
The city had already relocated all the shelter animals, after it became clear the building would need to stay closed for an extended length of time.
Police arrested Taraba on Thursday morning on suspicion of the animal shelter fire and said they were also looking into him in relation to the flood.
Friday afternoon, police confirmed that they had linked Taraba to the flood, through video surveillance footage, after The Scanner inquired about a new burglary case listed in Taraba's booking record.
This week, police removed Taraba from Berkeley Jail and took him to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin after he flooded the toilet in his Berkeley cell, authorities said.
Taraba, 48, is now being held at Santa Rita Jail with a combined bail of $720,000. He is set for arraignment in both cases Monday.
Police identified Taraba as homeless but websites online link him to UC Berkeley and identify him as a researcher in Oakland with a background in math, physics and computer science. His listed publications appear to be decades old.
Taraba's only charged case in Alameda County is a misdemeanor battery case from March, according to court records.
Read complete coverage of the animal shelter fire.
