Late last week, Director of Security Larry Banaszak e-mailed a crime alert regarding a reported date rape.
The victim, who is an Otterbein student, told police she blacked out and only remembers driving to a party at 120 Llewellyn Avenue in the early morning on Feb. 24, and waking up later in her dorm room.
According to the police report, the victim said the suspect admitted to being drunk and slipping something into her drink; he later told the victim they had engaged in oral sex and sexual intercourse.
The police report also stated that the victim signed documentation requesting that the Westerville Police Department end the investigation. She would not give any information about the other parties involved.
Even though the incident occurred off-campus, and thus is not required to be reported, security chose to send an e-mail notification.
The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, or Clery Act, was passed by Congress in 1989. It requires campus security to disclose campus crime statistics each year. They must report incidents like sex offenses, criminal homicide, robberies and other crimes. However, incidents that occur off-campus are not.
"In order for the crime to be reported, it has to occur on campus," said Banaszak. "This incident was off campus, but close enough [that] it affected our community."
There has only been one reported incident of a forcible sex offense at Otterbein in the past few years, according to the security report.
The security Web site defines a forcible sex offense as "any sexual act directed against another person, forcibly and/or against that person's will; or, not forcibly or against the person's will where the victim is incapable of giving consent."
In an attempt to prevent sexual assaults on campus, security offers information, training sessions and self-defense classes to the community. t&c;
