Man followed woman to Berkeley with car full of sex toys, condoms, crack pipes, Taser and a gun, police say
BERKELEY — A San Francisco man has been arrested and charged with five felonies and two misdemeanors after he allegedly followed a woman across the Bay Bridge to Berkeley at around 2 a.m., in a car later allegedly found to contain a gun, condoms, a stun gun and sex toys, according to police.
The suspect, 36-year-old Nolan Leonardo, has eight prior felony convictions. On Dec. 2, prosecutors in Alameda County charged him with five new felonies related to his alleged possession of a firearm or ammunition, as well as two misdemeanors alleging he had drugs in the car.
Leonardo was arrested Nov. 29, after a woman called police around 2 a.m. and reported that a car was following her from San Francisco. Berkeley police advised her to drive to the police station, where an officer waited and arrested Leonardo when he showed up nearby, authorities said.
The officer got Leonardo out of the car at gunpoint and searched it. Inside, authorities say they found a pistol, condoms, a flashlight Taser, a BB gun that resembled a real firearm, five crack pipes and gloves. Inside the trunk, authorities found “multiple sex-toy silicon flashlights and used socks,” an officer wrote in court filings.
Leonardo’s felony convictions mostly involve home burglaries, according to the criminal complaint. At his first court appearance, Judge David Pereda released him without having to post bail and ordered him not to possess guns, court records show. He is next due in court on Jan. 9, 2026.
The Berkeley Scanner news site reported that in 2023, the Salvation Army in San Francisco highlighted Leonardo’s story, praising him for leaving “the depths of addiction and darkness on the streets” to “find a glimmer of hope at the Salvation Army.”
“After years of struggling with substance abuse and constantly finding himself in and out of institutions and custody, he finally found his way to The Way Out program,” the social media posts said, according to the Scanner.
The posts have since been deleted.