In a period of less than 12 hours, two female students reported being assaulted on the Edinburg campus. A suspect in the first incident has been arrested, University Police say.
UTRGV Police sent an email to the campus community last Tuesday regarding one of the incidents.
A student reported having been groped in her buttocks and breast areas by an unknown man in a stairwell of the Health Science West building around 8.11 p.m. April 18. She reported the incident at 10:17 p.m.
She described the man to be a Hispanic male, about 5 feet 6 inches tall and 170 pounds. The suspect was last seen wearing a navy blue Hollister shirt with green-and-white lettering, khaki shorts, black-framed glasses and carrying a yellow folder containing a stack of papers.
“We have looked at our cameras and so far we haven’t been able to find a suspect fitting that description in any of the video cameras that we have,” University Police Chief Raul Munguia Said. “Unfortunately, the hallway, I mean, the stairway does not have cameras but we are moving forward with the investigation.”
The majority of the cameras the department uses to review investigations are installed in the university parking lots and other cameras can also monitor the space between buildings but not many are found within individual buildings, the chief said.
No arrest has been made in the case. Anyone with information is asked to call University Police at 665-7151 or email at police@utrgv.edu.
“Our No. 1 priority is the safety of our students and staff,” Munguia said. “We’re doing what we can to get this suspect identified.”
The other incident was reported at 11:20 a.m. the same day by an officer who found a man that appeared to be intoxicated on an unknown narcotic substance in Lot G.
It was later determined by the officer that the man was a suspect in an assault that had occurred earlier and was reported through the Vaqueros Report It system.
The victim reported that the man touched her back and arm,which she found offensive, and he also attempted to kiss her.
The suspect was arrested on charges of public intoxication and assault, both Class C misdemeanors. He was booked into the Edinburg Municipal Jail.
Marlyn Cantu, a bilingual education sophomore, does not have classes in the evening but feels the campus should be made more safe for those walking by.
“I think they should put more lights because the lights from here sometimes they don’t work. … I have been here at night and there’s so many police walking around here until 11 [p.m.],” Cantu said.
The patrols that occur within the campus consist of both University Police and public safety officers, Munguia said.
“If they have some concerns or fear, they can call a dispatcher and ask for an escort,” he said. “We’ve put that out there and I think some of the students had forgotten about that and they don’t realize that there’s that resource. It’s right there at their fingertips.”
Anyone in the campus community can use Vaquero Report It to report academic dishonesty, student violations, sexual misconduct, concerns about a student, complaints and residence life violations.
University Police advises the following tips for the campus community,
–Trust your instincts–if you think that something is wrong, remove yourself from the situation.
–Try to stay in well-lit areas.
–Take the most direct route and try to stay within areas where other people are around.
–Look and sound confident, even if you don’t feel it.
–Walk as if you know where you are going.
–Report suspicious people to the UTRGV Police immediately.
–Try not to walk alone. If you have to, be aware of potentially dangerous places, badly lit streets, dense shrubbery, alleyways and hidden doorways.
To report suspicious activity, call University Police at 665-7151 on the Edinburg campus and 882-8232 for the Brownsville and Harlingen campuses.
