University Police Department officers are investigating reports of an alleged “rape of a drugged victim” at the Theta Chi Gamma Xi house that occurred about 5 months ago, UPD Capt. Frank Belcastro said.
The victim currently does not want to prosecute, Belcastro said over the phone. The victim reported the incident to UPD on Friday at 1:03 a.m., according to the UPD Daily Crime/Fire Log Bulletin.
Belcastro said the alleged victim “requested confidentiality” and could not release the name or the exact date the incident happened.
The log shows the location of the alleged incident was at the Theta Chi Gamma Xi house on 123 South Eleventh St.
Political science junior and fraternity president, Jacob Nelson said he did not know about the allegation or the incident itself.
“I haven’t heard anything about that,” Nelson said.
Nelson said he was not president at the time of the incident, five months ago, when the incident allegedly happened.
Belcastro said people alleging sexual misconduct can report it to the Title IX office, which handles complaints of sexual misconduct, stalking and dating and domestic violence. He said the office will handle its own investigation.
Title IX Coordinator Tracey Tsugawa said she could neither confirm nor deny any active Title IX investigation but said it isn’t unusual for complainants who file reports to her office to drop charges.
“I would say a majority of cases students will come forward and, even with cases of sexual assault or sexual misconduct, they may just decide that they do not want to move for the formal investigation,” Tsugawa said.
Tsugawa said if the complainant decides not to press charges but has safety concerns then the office could decide to issue a no-contact order where there must be a distance kept between both parties.
She also said Title IX investigates sexual assault allegations differently than UPD.
If the office does, however, investigate and find university policies have been broken, then the office will schedule a hearing with both parties to gather evidence and make a report for an external hearing officer. Title IX officers cannot make any disciplinary decisions.
That hearing officer then works with a group of retired judges who service the entire CSU system to make a final determination on whether or not to suspend or expel an accused student.
Tsugawa said if the victim wants to report or has reported a complaint of sexual misconduct to Title IX, both the office and UPD's investigations would be separate.
The Theta Chi investigation is ongoing and UPD is still gathering evidence with a confidential source.
“It is a serious issue,” Belcastro said. “There will be an active investigation but you have to be able to prove the facts.”
