Police have identified a suspect in two Sproul Plaza robberies in which victims reported withdrawing money from an on-campus ATM.
Police say a white male asked students to purchase magazine subscriptions on Sproul Plaza on Sept. 10. In two separate incidents, after the students declined, the suspect allegedly threatened them and walked the victims to the ATM in Golden Bear Cafe, where each withdrew money for the suspect, according to a UCPD crime alert updated Monday.
In the alert, police identified the suspect in both incidents as Kody Smith, a 24-year-old, 5-foot-11 white male with a thin build, blue eyes and short hair.
There has not been an identification of the suspect’s two companions at this time, according to the alert.
In the first report, a 20-year-old female student was approached on Lower Sproul Plaza at around 2:55 p.m. when a male asked her to buy a magazine subscription. When the victim declined, the male and two accomplices threatened her, and the male walked her to an ATM in Golden Bear Cafe, where she withdrew $400 in cash, said UCPD Capt. Margo Bennett.
Later on Sept. 20, a second robbery occurred when at around 4:50 p.m. a 21-year-old female student was approached by a man who also identified himself as Kody and was selling magazine subscriptions.
The man allegedly attempted to verbally pressure the victim into buying subscriptions. The victim declined but, due to hand gestures made by the man, feared that she would be physically harmed if she tried to walk away without giving the man money, the Sept. 19 alert said.
After the first incident was reported by UCPD on Sept. 14, more students came forward with allegations that they had been approached by a male selling magazine subscriptions on Sproul, dating as far back as last spring.
Bennett said on Sept. 18 that UCPD keeps an officer on Sproul to patrol the plaza during daytime hours.
Chloe Hunt covers crime. Contact her at [email protected].
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Good work getting some results on this case. And excellent work following this story through, Chloe.
“In the alert, police identified the suspect in both incidents as Kody
Smith, a 24-year-old, 5-foot-11 white male with a thin build, blue eyes
and short hair.”
See, what did I tell you? THERE WAS NO BLACK MAN INVOLVED, JUST A WHITE MAN. ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE IS A RACIST.
Ok, the white male suspect is part of the 1% out of the 99% black thugs
Concerned Cal Mom, you’re one of the racists who post on all the crime articles about “black thugs.”
What about WHITE THUGS? Why don’t I see any outrage that this WHITE THUG is intimidating students.
I really hope your son or daughter isn’t as racist as you are.
The white man is as likely as the black man to commit crimes. If you think otherwise, that’s pure racism.
No, it reflects statistical accuracy that blacks are far more prone to commit crimes. ‘Course, they probably lie to you about that in your Ethnic Studies Department waste of time course work…
I guess one can then say that whites are more prone to be being racist a$$holes…
No, UC Berkeley blacks and Muslims have clearly demonstrated what that they are second to none when it comes to bigotry. They invited the overtly anti-Semitic and Asian hating scumsucker Louis Farth-hiscan to campus and Stupids for Just Us in Foul-Asstine regularly exhibit their hatred of Jews…
Why are you complaining about ethnic studies? I’m a philosophy major, but I SEE NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING AN ETHNIC STUDIES MAJOR AND YOUR CRUDE INSINUATIONS DEMONSTRATE YOUR RACIST ATTITUDE.
> I SEE NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING
> AN ETHNIC STUDIES MAJOR
Of course not, given that you will simply blame “racism” for not being able to find a decent job once you have graduated with a useless major.
Stan, I’m NOT an ethnic studies major. I’m a philosophy major, but if I were an ethnic studies major, I WOULD BE PROUD OF IT AND BE ANGRY THAT BIGOTS LIKE YOU LOOK DOWN ON IT.
Anti-racist, you’re a joke. You also post on all the crime articles . Like I said before, 99% of all crimes against Berkeley students are committed by African Americans…some of them are even black student athletes stealing laptops and iPhones. I wish Obama would solve the black male problem. Look at the black population in our prisons and the number of black children growing up without a male role model in the family, especially the biological father. BTW, are you black? I think you are.
I’m a proud member of the African American community. So are you white? Only a white person would be so racially insensitive.
“99% of all crimes against Berkeley students are committed by African
Americans…some of them are even black student athletes stealing
laptops and iPhones.”
You are making up this lie. Black student-athletes don’t steal and 99% of crimes aren’t committed by blacks. There are plenty of WHITE CRIMINALS as you can tell from this article. The white man likes to blame all crime on the black man when in fact they have equal levels of crime.
Anti-racist—-I knew you were an African American. You have a chip on your shoulder like many of your kind, and you are out of touch with reality.
Have you ever heard of Amoki from the Cal basketball team? He was removed from the team because he was stealing laptops. Several UCLA black football players were kicked off the team for stealing laptops & other valuables from fellow students in the dorm cafeteria. Anderson was also suspended from the UCLA basketball team for stealing laptops too. He should have been removed permanently. Do you see a pattern? Don’t get me wrong, I fully support college sports and athletes, I just don’t like the athletes that are stealing from other students.
BTW, I’m not white and crimes are not committed equally by black and white people….read the paper & read the sport section.
“I knew you were an African American. You have a chip on your shoulder
like many of your kind, and you are out of touch with reality.”
Wow, that’s such an ignorant racist statement. “like many of your kind”? Can that be any more racist???? I have NO chip on my shoulder though it seems you do since you are filled with hate.
You’re cherrypicking black men from the crime logs. I’m sure if you were less racist, you would find white men athletes doing the same thing.
“BTW, I’m not white and crimes are not committed equally by black and
white people….read the paper & read the sport section.”
How can a racist like you not be white? That makes no sense at all. You must be lying.
This ratbastard needs to go down. There are too many crooks preying on students at Berkeley.
It’s clear from his twitter feed that he’s been doing this all over NorCal campuses.
http://twitter.com/kasper2420/status/240278972288618497
Chico state thanks for all your support today … 22 sales bitches
http://twitter.com/kasper2420/status/244128376833576960
Off to san Francisco state university … Pretty sweet campus
This guy’s got a long record in doing this.
That UCPD officer must be undercover, because I rarely see an officer on Sproul, and I expect the two people who were mugged didn’t see an officer.
http://twitter.com/kasper2420 It would appear that this is Kody’s twitter account, especially if you compare the picture to the one in the article in the Contra Costa Times. He certainly seems like an upstanding young gentleman… lol