With anxiety and confusion rising amidst rumors of assaults on UVA students in the Corner area—anxiety made worse perhaps by what seems like a delayed campus-wide alert from University administrators—a few things are known. Charlottesville police are investigating a sexual assault; one victim describes his attack as a hate crime; one robbery has been reported as well as two attempted robberies; and police have charged a suspect in connection with the robbery and one of the attempted robberies.
On September 28, more than 10 days after Charlottesville investigators started looking into the sexual assault incident, UVA Dean of Students Allen Groves issued an e-mail alert. UVA officials explain the delay by saying that they wanted to make sure they had accurate information.
In the e-mail, Groves warns students of three “disturbing” incidents that happened off campus on three consecutive days starting on September 17. The first of these is the case now being investigated by Charlottesville police. As for the other two incidents to which Groves refers, city police were never contacted so they are not currently investigating.
At an impromptu press conference Wednesday afternoon, September 29, Groves and Lt. Melissa Fielding of UVA Police acknowledged they did not have all the information concerning all the attacks, including the identity of the victim of a September 19 attempted sexual assault that has not been referred to city police. Groves said that there is tension between deciding when to put out information to students “and when we feel we have adequate facts to make an intelligent statement people can rely upon rather than making a statement based on rumor or innuendo or very incomplete information.” Reporters’ questions related to the incident that occurred on September 17 were referred to city police, but a representative was not present at the press conference.
In the first assault— the September 17 incident being investigated by city police —a female student was attacked near Chancellor Street at approximately 1:15am. The student, Groves said, was banging on the door of her residence and had blood and vomit on her. “We believe she was sexually assaulted,” he said.
Lt. Ronnie Roberts of Charlottesville Police confirms they are investigating the assault. “Our agency classified it as sexual assault and conducted it as such, and we are still waiting for the forensic evidence to determine whether it is in fact a sexual assault,” he told C-VILLE. “We have investigators who have been working the case since the 17th, conducting interviews with a number of friends of the victim, and people that were together that particular evening.” The victim was treated at the UVA Medical Center.
The next day, a gay student was assaulted at 1:30am on the same street. Groves said the victim is “extremely confident” that the attack was motivated by his sexual orientation.
Information about a September 19 assault is muddier. A third student, whose identity is not known to UVA officials, was attacked at an unidentified fraternity house in the early hours of the morning. Groves said the intent of the attack was sexual, although the police were never contacted. The assailant is described as a white male, 18 to 20, approximately 5′ 11" with medium-length brown hair.
Adding another layer of confusion is the belief expressed by UVA officials that the incidents of September 17 and 19 may be the work of a single perpetrator. The attacker “blends in well” with students and it is possible that “he was lurking in each area before the attacks,” Groves wrote in his campus-wide e-mail.
But city police don’t see it that way. “At this time we have nothing that indicates there is a link between the two cases,” says Lt. Roberts.
Within hours of the press conference, two additional incidents, both involving UVA female students, were reported to city police. In each case, the suspect, who is believed to be the same, accosted the students and demanded money. And on September 30, police arrested Carlton William Arnold in connection with those crimes. He was charged on six counts, including two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Arnold was recently released from prison for the 1998 killing of Osama Hassan at a Shell gas station on Ivy Road, at which time he was a juvenile.
