Suspect accused of killing his mom in Berkeley home has lengthy record
BERKELEY, Calif. - Jonah Roper, the man accused of stabbing his 60-year-old mother to death in the Berkeley hills on Saturday, has a lengthy criminal history spanning nearly two decades, court records show.
Roper, 36, has been charged previously with multiple felonies for robbery, burglary and battery.
He was accused of robbing the Bank of the Orient in Downtown Oakland in 2012 when he was on probation for two 2011 charges of burglary and battery of a custodial officer.
'She was beloved, she was kind': Berkeley hills stabbing leaves grandmother dead
In the Berkeley hills, a normally very quiet neighborhood was disrupted and had neighbors heartbroken over what occurred Saturday afternoon.
Roper was identified in the bank robbery by his probation officer who recognized him in surveillance photos, the East Bay Times reported in 2012.
Roper's violent past also includes misdemeanors for alleged domestic violence, among charges dating back to the mid-2000s.
He's been charged with brandishing a weapon, attacking law enforcement officials and exposing himself to a neighbor.
Roper has used multiple aliases over the years and has gone by Jonah Ghizzoni-Roper, as well as Jesus El Senor, court records show.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported Roper was arrested in 2014 in Florida four times in three months for disorderly conduct, petty theft, larceny and resisting arrest.
He was also charged in Chicago for trespassing, resisting arrest and assaulting emergency personnel in 2021, the Chronicle said.
When horror struck the Berkeley hills on Saturday it involved Roper stabbing his mother and her partner. Roper was seen by neighbors chasing his mother's partner down the street with a knife. He then stole a neighbor's car, fled the area, wrecked the vehicle about three miles away before Berkeley police apprehended him.
"All the neighbors are devastated," said neighbor Mardi Sicular. "She was a beautiful person, she was beloved, she was kind, she was generous. She was just an angel of the neighborhood."
Roper is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday at Oakland's Wiley M. Manuel Courthouse.