Woman sues Utah State after sexual assault at frat party

Jason Relopez appears in 1st District Court for a preliminary hearing on Thursday. Relopez was bound over to stand trial for rape and aggravated sexual assault.

OGDEN, Utah (AP) — A former Utah State University student has sued the school, saying officials knew about reports of sexual assault and heavy drinking at fraternity parties but failed to take serious action before she was raped by a fraternity brother who had been accused multiple times before.

The lawsuit filed last week contends women were sexually abused at the parties even after USU pledged to crack down on Greek-community excesses following the alcohol-poisoning death of a fraternity pledge in 2008, the Standard-Examiner in Ogden reported (http://bit.ly/2fT18nc).

USU spokesman Tim Vitale declined to comment on the details of the allegations, but said the school will tell its side of the story as the case unfolds.

The Associated Press does not typically identify victims of sexual assault.

The suit says five other women previously reported being sexually assaulted by the same man who later pleaded guilty to criminal charges in her 2015 assault, but the school took little action.

Jason Relopez, 28, is serving a year in jail after pleading to reduced charges of attempted rape and attempted forcible sexual abuse.

Court documents said university officials talked to him in 2014 after a student reported having been sexually assaulted. A university official warned Relopez was “on USU’s radar” and would be disciplined if the allegations were proven, the suit said.

Months after that talk, Relopez brought the inebriated plaintiff to his bedroom, locked the door and then raped and beat her for several hours, despite a friend’s attempts to find her and get her out, the suit said.

The complaint also names the fraternity’s parent organization, saying it knew he “was a sexually aggressive person who was a risk to others, especially women and especially when he became intoxicated.”

The Illinois-based Sigma Chi declined to comment, citing policy.

In addition to the claims against Relopez, USU officials were also aware of complaints against another member of a nearby fraternity, the suit said. Ryan Wray had been assigned to watch over drunken partygoers who couldn’t take care of themselves when he inappropriately touched a woman in 2015, prosecutors said.

He later pleaded guilty to a reduced felony charge of attempted forcible sexual abuse.

Those cases together should have signaled that university administrators needed to take action to curb sexual assaults and drinking, but administrators didn’t do enough to protect women, the suit contends.

The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, also says the university failed to offer or provide her with services to overcome the trauma of the assault so she could continue to study at the Logan-based school, as mandated by federal Title IX.

She has since transferred to another university.

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