Berkeley animal shelter fire: Suspect’s dog was seized a day before

Dog beds, blankets, food bags, leashes and other donated pet supplies were destroyed or left unusable from smoke damage. Credit: Zac Farber/Berkeleyside

The man authorities say tried to torch the Berkeley Animal Care Services shelter on Bolivar Drive had his own dog seized and sent to the shelter the day before the fire, according to court records. He has also been charged in a separate case with assaulting a staffer at a homeless shelter.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office charged Peter Taraba, 48, with felony arson and burglary and misdemeanor vandalism in the June 6 fire. No animals or humans suffered any injuries, but the damage to the facility has forced it to close.

Berkeley police arrested Taraba on the morning of June 5 on suspicion of vandalism, “and his dog was placed in the Berkeley Animal Shelter as a result,” according to a Berkeley Police Department statement in Taraba’s arson arrest. (Court records showed no charges in connection with his June 5 arrest.)

A little more than a day later, around 8 p.m. on June 6, surveillance cameras captured Taraba on shelter property; another hour later, they captured him “jumping over secured exterior gates, and throwing rocks at windows,” police said.

The cameras finally caught “Taraba approaching the area where the fire was started with something in his hands and walking away empty-handed as the fire grew,” according to the statement.

Firefighters rushed to the shelter after it was first reported, around 10 p.m. Investigators said from the start that it seemed suspicious after finding a broken window. The fire burned through a pile of pet supplies under a stairway in the building’s lobby. It caused no structural damage, but smoke damaged staff areas and a sprinkler system was out of commission afterward, which could have posed a danger to the animals there, which were moved into fosters or other shelters.

Police believe Taraba returned to the shelter early on the morning of June 11 and flooded it with water from an exterior faucet, but he had not been charged in connection with that as of Wednesday. Officers spotted Taraba downtown later on June 11 and arrested him.

Taraba is also facing a misdemeanor assault charge after allegedly slapping two staffers at a downtown homeless shelter, according to a police statement in that case. Only one of the staff members wished to pursue charges.

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