Man Sought in Office Holdups

A string of 17 robberies, five rapes and one killing has been linked to a man striking at vulnerable, after-hours office workers in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, police said Wednesday.

The urgency of catching the armed attacker has prompted police to release crime details usually withheld in an investigation, Rialto police spokesman Terry Thompson said.

The man, who breaks into “professional, suite-type offices” between 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., ties his victims up with telephone receiver cord, he said. The attacker, armed with a small-caliber handgun, takes cash, jewelry and cards for automated teller machines.

The single killing occurred Feb. 4 in Rialto. Nancy Willem, 35, office manager of a mental health facility, was working alone when the robber entered, Thompson said. She was raped and killed.

Thompson described the wanted man as black, between 6-foot-1 and 6-foot-4 and weighing 160-180 pounds. He wears his hair short, may have a thin mustache and uses watch caps with eyeholes cut out in an attempt to disguise himself.