A homeless man accused of pursuing a UC Berkeley student into her apartment building was taken to jail Tuesday—but the arrest stemmed from an unrelated warrant, not the alleged pursuit.
Kenneth Kenji Stine, 50, was arrested after Berkeley police located him and found the outstanding warrant. The arrest came days after officers detained him in connection with the encounter involving student Eden Winograd, then released him, saying there was not enough evidence to pursue a stalking charge.
Stine is now being held while prosecutors consider whether the unusual confrontation with Winograd warrants additional criminal charges.
The case took another turn after Winograd released surveillance footage of the Sept. 15 incident. The video drew more than 2 million views on TikTok.
Winograd said Stine ran toward her as she walked her dog at about 8 p.m. She hurried back to her off-campus apartment near UC Berkeley, but she alleges that he followed her and scaled the building’s security gate moments after she entered.
“My heart sank. I was out of breath,” Winograd told NBC Bay Area. “I don’t want to be chased and have to watch someone claw their way up a wall to get into where I live.”
She reached an elevator and was able to get safely to her apartment.
Berkeley police took more than an hour to arrive. In a department statement, officials said officers were handling other high-priority calls, including reports of a missing autistic child and domestic violence.
The next evening, Winograd saw Stine sleeping near Berkeley Way and Walnut Street and contacted police.
Officers detained and identified him before speaking with him about the incident. They ultimately released him as the case was being handled as misdemeanor trespassing and forwarded for review.
The release fueled widespread criticism online and turned the incident into a social media firestorm.
Angered by the police response, Winograd uploaded edited surveillance footage to TikTok. One slowed segment appeared to show Stine removing an object from his pocket.
Investigators said the footage showed Stine running in Winograd’s direction before entering the building, but they could not conclusively determine that he was chasing her.
“You guys don’t do anything until it’s too late,” Winograd said. “This happens too often to too many people.”
Attention has also focused on Stine’s unusual presence online.
In Facebook posts, Stine has written about “hearing voices in my head continuously.” In 2021, he attributed the experience to what he claimed was a secret DARPA program capable of reading and transmitting people’s thoughts.
In one YouTube video, Stine refers to himself as “God,” adding to the bizarre online persona that has emerged as the incident attracted public attention.
Berkeley police found Stine again on Sept. 22 and discovered the outstanding warrant. That gave officers the authority to arrest him and book him into jail.
He is not currently being held on new stalking or trespassing charges related to the encounter with Winograd.
Stine will remain in custody on the outstanding warrant as the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office determines whether to file charges connected to the apartment incident.
