Police look for man charged in Woodview Apartments assault

A 33-year-old man was charged Friday with aggravated burglary and rape in an assault at the Woodview Apartments in Kansas City, Kan.

Adalberto Mata-Beras is not in custody. Police are asking for the public’s help in locating the Hispanic man, who is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 170 pounds. He is considered armed and dangerous. He was last seen in the area of 11th Street and Greeley Avenue. Mata-Beras is believed to have shaved his head.

Anyone with information is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).

The March 29 attack was just one of a string of recent burglaries and assaults at the apartment complex that have made residents apprehensive. The assailant is said to have entered the apartments by climbing the balconies.

Residents at the complex said Friday they were relieved but would remain vigilant.

“I don’t go on walks by myself or on the trail by myself,” said Shannon Johnston, who for about a year has lived with her family in the apartment complex in a quiet, semi-secluded wooded area off 18th Street Expressway and Interstate 35.

“It’s not that I’m really afraid, it’s just I don’t go by myself.”

Police announced April 2 that they were investigating four aggravated burglaries at the complex in the 3100 block of Woodview Ridge Drive.

In three of the four cases, the victims had been assaulted.

Police think the burglar entered through balcony doors on both upper and lower levels of the apartment buildings and left through the front door.

Despite the recent crimes, Johnston and her brother Lalo Johnston said they don’t feel uneasy living there. They are just more aware of their surroundings and make sure everything is locked up.

“It’s a nice place and area,” Shannon Johnston said. “Bad stuff happens everywhere.”

Paul Rodriguez, who moved in less than a month ago, said it helps knowing that police have identified a suspect.

“You don’t think that crime will happen where you live,” he said. “Unfortunately, it happened here.”

Logan Burrow, who has lived at the apartments just under a year, said she and her roommate were a little frustrated because they were unaware that the crimes were taking place. They wished the complex managers had let residents know sooner and relayed the extent of the crimes.

The crimes have the two considering whether to look for another place to live.

“It depends on how this plays out,” Burrow said. “The lease is up in July.”

In the meantime, they will continue to check in with each other and make sure the doors are locked — including using a bar Burrow’s grandfather made to keep the porch door secured.