A Goucher College student who allegedly was sexually assaulted has come forward but is not cooperating with Baltimore County police, police said.
The student came forward Tuesday, days after College President Sanford Ungar sent an e-mail to the school’s nearly 2,400 students, encouraging victims to reach out for support and help prevent more assaults, said Kristen Keener, a spokeswoman for the college. The e-mail reported that another student — not a victim — had told campus security of three alleged sexual assaults that had taken place on and off campus throughout the semester.
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“Goucher is working in tandem with the Baltimore County Police Department, and we aren’t able to share much more than that to ensure that their investigation isn’t compromised,” Keener wrote in an e-mail.
Police spokesman Bill Toohey said Friday that the agency is investigating a number of calls generated by media reports of Ungar’s e-mail.
“A young lady did come forward but didn’t want to follow up, so there was nothing else we could do,” he said.
Toohey declined to say if police are close to making an arrest, saying it is standard to withhold that type of information until an arrest is made.
The school had identified three possible suspects, two students and a former student, whose names had not been released. According to Ungar’s Dec. 12 e-mail, date-rape drugs were suspected to have been used in the incidents, and the victims of the alleged assaults knew their attackers.
About 60 substances can be considered date-rape drugs, including many over-the-counter medicines, such as Benadryl, said Linda Kelly, program manager of the Sexual Assault Forensic Examination program at Greater Baltimore Medical Center.
Women who are college-age or younger are the most vulnerable to sexual assault, and 90 percent of attacks involve alcohol, drugs or someone the victims knows, Kelly said.
Victims of sexual assaults may question whether their actions led to the attack or worry about the consequences their attacker would face, causing them to hesitate to contact and cooperate with authorities, Kelly said.
At Goucher, a private liberal arts school in Towson, the sexual assault allegations stunned many students.
Annalise Woller, a 21-year-old senior at the school, said she was “really surprised and shocked” to hear of the allegations.
Some female students said they worried for their safety and would try to stay with friends when going to parties or taking public transportation.
