A Georgetown student in Village A was sexually assaulted with digital penetration on September 1, according to a police report, following a sexually motivated burglary in the 1200 block of 33rd Street on August 30th.
These crimes are similar to at least fourteen incidents in the Georgetown area during the past two years, in which an unknown male has entered the residence of a student, climbed into bed with her, and fled when she awoke. The September 1 incident stands out from previous events because of the severity of the sexual assault.
“This has been a persistent problem over the last year and has been particularly problematic from our perspective,” University President John DeGioia said in an interview yesterday in reference to the sexual assaults.
He also noted that Georgetown is working closely with the Metropolitan Police Department on the investigation.
Despite a statement from MPD Second District Commander Matthew Klein earlier this year that one suspect was likely responsible for the incidents, Vice President for University Safety Rocco DelMonaco said that the evidence for a single suspect remains inconclusive.
“Connections in the case aren’t to the level that we can say that we’re dealing with one suspect or two suspects,” DelMonaco said.
Of the ten Public Safety Alerts that included a suspect description, nine share common details such as brown hair, a height between 5’10” and 6’2”, and a white or Hispanic ethnicity. PSAs were not sent out for the other four incidents.
Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson said that MPD believes that similar sexual assaults at American University and the incidents at Georgetown may be related.
In the August 30 burglary, an unidentified male entered a house in the 1200 block of 33rd Street at 6:30 a.m. through an unlocked door and lay down on a couch with the victim, according to the PSA. The victim woke and told the suspect to leave. He exited along 33rd Street.
DelMonaco said that despite the proximity of the suspect and the victim, the incident is not considered a sexual assault.
“If there was some kind of inappropriate touching or contact like that, it might have been classified by MPD as a sexual assault,” he said. “Because there wasn’t any, it was classified as a burglary.”
The second incident took place at 4:20 a.m. on the night of September 1 in an unidentified Village A apartment. A police report obtained by the Voice states, “Complainant 1 reports that after falling asleep by herself, she awoke to Suspect 1 sexually assaulting her with digital penetration in her bed.”
The PSA regarding the incident stated that DPS believes the assailant gained entry through a front window and did not take anything when he was in the apartment.
DelMonaco and Olson urged students to lock their doors, walk in groups at night, and utilize DPS resources like SafeRides.
“It’s about being aware of your surroundings,” DelMonaco said. “We’re an open vibrant university campus that’s been around for 200-plus years, but we happen to be in an urban area.”
