An Ohio State student told OSU Police Thursday that three men sexually assaulted her in her dorm room in Morrill Tower on Feb. 27.
The assault is not related to the alleged rape outside McPherson Lab last week, police said.
The student accepted a ride back to campus from a social event and was escorted to her room by three males sometime after midnight, police said. At some point the student lost consciousness. OSU Police Chief Paul Denton said investigators did not know why she passed out.
Later in the day on Feb. 27, the student’s roommate reported that cameras and a laptop had been stolen from her room. However, the woman who says she had been assaulted in that room did not report the attack until Thursday.
Javaune Adams-Gaston, OSU vice president for Student Life, sent a campus-wide e-mail to the student body on Friday.
“If you are the victim of sexual assault, whether by someone you know or a stranger, I urge you very strongly to report it as soon as possible,” she wrote.
The woman described her assailants as black males around 20 years old. One is 6-feet-tall, medium build with short black hair. The second is 5-feet-9-inches, slender build, has light, possibly hazel eyes, short dark hair, stud earrings and “nice teeth.” The third is heavy-set with glasses, dreadlocks and is about 5-feet-10-inches
tall.
Denton said those descriptions are similar to the suspects in a theft at Stradley Hall on Feb. 14.
A female resident of Stradley invited three males back to her room after meeting them at an off-campus dance club. Some time later, the men were kicked out of the dormitory after getting into an altercation.
The men left before police arrived. Students reported that about $760 of property was stolen. The items reported stolen were a BlackBerry cell phone, an iPod Touch, an Xbox 360 “NBA 2K10” video game, a wrist watch and a number of purses, handbags and wallets. There was no report of sexual assault.
Students who are alone after dark can use the Student Escort Service, which can be reached at 614-292-3322, Adams-Gaston wrote. “Why not program that into your cell phone now? I think everyone understands that too much alcohol can affect your ability to make good decisions,” she wrote.
In an unrelated attempted assault on campus Friday, a student thwarted an attempted robbery when he punched the would-be thief in the face. Tanik Joshipura was walking from the Adventure Recreation Center to his dormitory, Mack Hall, at 1 a.m. when he noticed a man walking toward him.
He was walking past Howlett Hall when the man met him on the sidewalk and displayed a large folding knife, described as a 5- to 6-inch blade with a dark handle.
The suspect pointed the knife at Joshipura and said, “give me all your stuff,” according to police reports. Joshipura pulled out his Buck I.D. from his pocket and said that was all he had. When the suspect moved closer to check the pockets of the victim, Joshipura punched the suspect in the nose. The suspect dropped his knife and fell to his knees.
Joshipura went back to Mack Hall and called OSU Police. An OSU officer checked out the scene but found no blood, no knife and no man.
The suspect is described as a black male, 5-feet-6-inches tall, weighing 160 to 165 pounds. At the time of the crime the suspect was wearing a blue polo shirt with a white stripe, blue jacket and dark blue pants.
Police are asking anyone with information about the crimes to call OSU Police at 614-292-2121.
The Lantern has a policy of not naming victims or alleged victims of sexual assault.
