OSU on alert over sexual incidents

Ohio State University sent two public-safety notices to students over the weekend after a possible rape in a dorm and two possible sexual assaults that were reported in the same vicinity near campus.

The three reports, though, don’t appear to be linked, said OSU and Sgt. Terry McConnell of the Columbus police sexualassault unit.

The first public-safety notice was issued at 4 p.m. Saturday, 51⁄ hours after a rape in the

2 Park-Stradley residence hall was reported to campus police, said Dan Hedman, director of marketing and communications for OSU.

Yesterday’s safety notice was issued at 3 p.m. regarding the two possible sexual assaults just off campus Saturday night which, Hedman said, were handled by Columbus police.

OSU police Chief Paul Denton and Vernon Baisden, OSU’s director for public safety, reviewed both cases and decided to issue the public-safety notices, Hedman said.

OSU police were contacted at 10:26 a.m. Saturday by a female student who reported that she

Police said two incidents that were reported on Saturday night do not appear to be related.

was raped in her residence hall between 3:20 and 4:30 a.m.

The suspect told the victim he was an OSU student whose first name was Corey. He was described as white, about 22 or 23 and 5 feet 8 inches and 150 pounds, OSU said.

Yesterday, OSU officials learned of the two other incidents, which occurred off campus on Saturday night, and issued a second public-safety notice.

In one of those cases, a female OSU student reported two white males pulled her about 20 feet off the sidewalk and grabbed her breasts in the area of E. 12th Avenue and N. Pearl Street at 10 p.m.

She managed to get away and called police more than two hours later, McConnell said.

Earlier in the evening, around 8:21 p.m., a non-student reportedly was sexually assaulted by a white male at E. 15th Avenue and N. Pearl Street.

A woman was found passed out in the alley with her pants down and her shirt up. A friend told police that the woman had gone to the alley to urinate, McConnell said.

The incident occurred near a bar where patrons are known to sometimes use the nearby alley to urinate, McConnell said.

The victim was intoxicated and incoherent, and did not initially say she had been sexually assaulted, McConnell said. She was taken to a hospital, where she was examined. She will be interviewed by detectives on Tuesday, McConnell said.

In its public-safety notice, OSU said the two Saturdaynight incidents “are similar enough in nature that they could present an ongoing threat.”

McConnell, though, said further investigation of the two off-campus incidents did not find a direct link between them.

The campus safety alerts caution students to be aware of their surroundings and to report anything suspicious.

There was chatter about the incidents among OSU students on social media yesterday, and one student who was interviewed — Joe Koberlein, 19, a freshman who lives in ParkStradley residence hall— said that he and many residents were “a little bit shocked” to hear about the incidents, especially the one in the dorm.