Who is Peter Taraba, Berkeley Animal Shelter arson suspect?
Peter Taraba's former housemate told The Scanner he was "kind of a hothead" when they lived together north of campus in 2024.
A man whose dog was taken by police has been charged with setting the Berkeley Animal Shelter on fire this month, court papers show.
Surveillance footage captured Peter Taraba jumping a fence and throwing rocks at the windows an hour before the fire, then carrying something toward the building and walking away empty-handed, police say.
The incident was captured on high-definition security cameras run by the city, police wrote in charging papers.
There were 42 animals in the shelter at the time of the fire. None were hurt. They have since been relocated pending repairs, which are expected to be done in July.
On Tuesday, the Alameda County district attorney's office charged Taraba with felony arson from the June 6 fire as well as burglary (alleging he entered the building to commit a felony) and misdemeanor vandalism, according to court papers.
The vandalism case stemmed from a June 5 incident where police say Taraba punctured a man's bike tire, which prompted officers to take his dog to the shelter after Taraba was arrested.
Emilie Raguso
Taraba has no criminal convictions in Alameda County but he does have an open misdemeanor case from March, according to court records.
In that incident, March 16 at about 10:20 p.m., police said, he caused a disturbance at a Berkeley homeless shelter, refusing to leave "despite being asked … multiple times."
According to police, Taraba slapped two shelter workers in the face "before he was successfully escorted outside" the Hope Center, at 2012 Berkeley Way.
That night, police ticketed Taraba on suspicion of trespassing and battery and sent him for a psychiatric evaluation, according to charging papers.
He was later charged with misdemeanor battery, court records show.
Police say Taraba, who is 48, is homeless.
A former housemate, speaking on condition of anonymity when reached by The Scanner, said Taraba had been "kind of a hothead" when they lived in the same house north of campus with several other people in 2024.
But Taraba had also taken particular care of a housemate's dog, spending time with it and taking it on long walks.
He went on trips with some of the roommates, but also seemed to be struggling.
The housemate described Taraba as "a pretty well-meaning guy" with some eccentricities.
He said Taraba had been hunting for work in 2024, often coming home with grievances about his employers. The jobs never lasted long.
At one point, Taraba began decorating their front yard "in strange ways," hanging a lantern from a tree, spray-painting a chair with the Slovakian flag, putting Halloween stickers on the mailbox.
Taraba left after a falling out with the landlord, the former housemate said.
It may have been Taraba's last permanent address, according to court papers.
Taraba appears to have published several academic papers in the early 2000s.
Websites online link him to UC Berkeley and identify him as a researcher in Oakland with a background in math, physics and computer science.
This week, UC Berkeley said it had no records linking him to campus at any point as a student or faculty member.
Peter Taraba. BPD
Taraba maintains an active LinkedIn page and recently launched a Medium site.
One recent Medium post appears to be simply a bank statement of Taraba's spending around Oakland. Others reference Donald Trump and AI in the headlines but are mostly photographs.
Comments on Medium that appear to be posted by Taraba link to his research papers.
As of this week, Taraba remains in custody with a bail of $25,000, according to booking records. He is scheduled to enter a plea Thursday.
Read complete coverage of the animal shelter fire.
