SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A man accused of being the so-called NorCal Rapist was ordered Wedesday to face trial on charges that he assaulted nine women in their homes, sometimes for hours.
There is enough evidence to try Roy Charles Waller, 60, on 46 felony charges, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Trena Burger-Plavan ruled during a preliminary hearing. He could face up to life in prison if convicted.
It took nearly an hour for the judge to reach all the charges, the Sacramento Bee reported.
Investigators said they used geneological websites and DNA testing to link Waller to attacks that took place between 1991 and 2006 in Butte, Contra Costa, Sacramento, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.
The attacker entered homes, sometimes while victims were asleep, and once posed as a trick-or-treater, authorities said.
Some victims were threatened at gunpoint, blindfolded or duct-taped, some were assaulted for hours and some were forced to drive the attacker to ATMs so he could withdraw cash from their accounts, prosecutors alleged.
The rapist also ransacked the homes, authorities said.
Waller, a resident of Benicia, was arrested in 2018 while employed as a safety specialist in the Office of Environment, Health and Safety at the University of California, Berkeley, where he'd worked since 1992.
