A 45-year-old Bay Area man with an extensive criminal history was arrested in connection with a break-in at a UC Berkeley sorority house, in which he’s accused of watching women shower, stealing underwear and pizza.
According to the Berkeley Police Department, the frightening Nov. 1 incident took place in the 2300 block of Warring Street between 3 a.m. and 6:35 p.m. One woman eventually woke to find the intruder, who was wearing a ski mask, inside the bedroom with her and her three roommates.
“It’s understandably shocking and scary,” BPD Officer Byron White told the Los Angeles Times.
After he was spotted, the suspect, 45-year-old Courtney Alford, reportedly ran out of the room and exited through the sorority house backdoor with stolen underwear and pizza, police said.
The home security cameras captured the 45-year-old walking around outside and eventually inside the house, at one point even taking the time to leave and then return in different clothing and the ski mask.
In all, some 65 women live in the home, White told The Times.
Evidence recovered at Dublin home of Courtney Alford after his arrest for allegedly breaking into a UC Berkeley sorority on NOv. 1, 2025. (Berkeley PD)
The 2300 block of Warring Street in Berkeley seen in undated photo. (Google Maps)
“Just the knowledge that somebody had been inside the home like that, going into bedrooms, taking underwear, watching people shower, regardless if that was you or not, it does shake your sense of safety,” the officer said.
Detectives with the department’s sex crimes unit used the surveillance footage, along with license plate readers to track Alford’s movements, KTLA’s sister-station KRON reported. An arrest warrant was issued Nov. 4 and was arrested the following day in the Castro Valley.
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A resident of Dublin, a city in Northern California’s East Bay, Alford is reportedly well known to law enforcement in Alameda County, with prior convictions for burglary, grand theft, assault with a deadly weapon, making criminal threats and evading a peace officer.
He has also been charged with two counts of lewd acts upon a child under the age of 14 in a March 2024 case, in which he pleaded not guilty.
After his arrest in connection with the sorority house break-in, a search of his residence revealed high-capacity ammunition magazines, more than 900 rounds of ammunition and parts for an assault rifle.
Alford has been charged by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office with burglary, prowling/peeking, invading privacy, being a felon in possession of gun and ammunition and multiple counts of unlawful entry.
He is being held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on $275,000 bail.
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