Oakland Cell Phone Rapist Arrested, Victim Comments On What Happened

The man called the “Oakland Cell Phone Rapist” has been arrested, and the victim contacted this blogger to offer her explanation of what happened that led up to the video. But before that, the arrest details.

47-year old Dion McDaniel arrested Wednesday and charged with burglary and rape. But, according to Henry K. Lee of The SF Chronicle, McDaniel has added problems from other charges and has racked up 11 felonies in total. He’s being held without bail at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, California.

In my previous commentary, I asked why the victim, who chooses not to be identified, was so calm in the video. From the perspective of one not there, and for the additional need to be careful not to sentence a person via a blog before they’re actually charged with a crime, I had to ask.

Here’s the video:

Well, here’s the victim’s written reason for her words, in full, including her understandable criticism of my initial take:

You have this story wrong and i’ve very hurt by your commentary.

1. the man never left the house
2. I did not know him

my landlord has a habit of giving keys to repairmen and not giving me notice. on may 11th i found a man trespassing in my house and did yell scream run out of the house and call 911, the result was a 3 day eviction notice from my landlord for violating his right to do repairs. he claimed my behavior was unreasonable. That is why i was so intentionally calm in my video, I thought i was dealing with another repair man. I also did not notice that the box he was carrying had my roommates stuff in it, I thought he was just moving things in the back room to do repairs. It wasn’t until after the video was over that i saw the broken door and realized it was a burglary. The door that was broken was so flimsy i didn’t even hear the sound of it being kicked in and to this day the door has not been fixed.

if you are going to ask why i was living in such a bad neighborhood with a slumlord i’ll tell you, my only income is SSI, last year my partner abandoned me after I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. I’d move to a better apartment if i had the means

It’s not that I “had the story wrong” because a number of sources, including The SF Chronicle’s Lee, reported that McDaniel left, then came back, rather than not leave at all.

That was the difference.

Also, the victim asks that her name not be used in media reports.

Landlord Seems To Be Operating Against The Law

If the victim’s landlord ” habit of giving keys to repairmen and not giving,” notice to tenants, that’s a clear violation of California law. She already has two petitions filed with the Oakland Rent Adjustment Board, but the hearing is not until next month.

Under the circumstances, the hearing should take place this Monday.

According to Cal Tenant Law at http://www.caltenantlaw.com/Privacy.htm, she has a case:

The typical problem is the resident manager who has a key to your apartment, and snoops around while you’re away at work, going through your things, perhaps even taking your property. It’s a great feeling of power for a little person to be able to so grossly invade someone’s privacy, like that, and the practice is alarmingly common. There are landlords who give a key freely to workmen to come into your unit, unsupervised, to so what they please, perhaps even catching you in embarrassing moments. There are landlords who freely give a key to realtors to walk into your house any time they please, placing a “lockbox” on your doorknob for any of them to use to walk right in, or set up an “open house” in your home, and ask you to get lost for a few days. There are Peeping Tom landlords, and those who freely come into your back yard to pick fruit and see what you’re up to. It matters not that they own title to the property. These are all violations of the right to possession, not of title. …

Civil Code 1954

Under Civil Code 1954 [see below], the landlord may enter your unit without your permission ONLY:
(1) in an emergency, like a fire or broken pipe, or
(2) upon reasonable advance notice, and then ONLY:
(A) to inspect, repair, or show the apartment,
(B) during normal business hours [presumably Mon.-Fri. 8AM-6PM]
(C) 24 hours is presumed to be sufficient notice
(D) You do not have to be home when they come, but the landlord is liable for anything stolen or broken.
(D) The notice must identify a date and reasonable time range [like an hour] within which the entry will occur
(E) The notice MUST be written [not oral or e-mail], except if a WRITTEN notice that realtors will be showing the property is given, for the next 120 days only an oral telephonic 24 hour notice is required [business hour limit still applies]
(G) The right of entry can’t be “abused”, so that an open house, lock box, extended repair, daily entry, or excessive range of entry time are probably all “abuses” which you have the legal right to prevent.

The nature of the reasonableness of the notice seems to be to give you time to pick up the place, secure pets, arrange to be there, or otherwise make ready for the visit. The law is not clear, here, and the above is the best interpretation of what the law probably is.

On top of all that, she was raped, so her landlord has a huge problem.

Stay tuned.