Ashley Khamtrashyan
Staff Writer
University Police on March 9 arrested a suspect and charged the person with sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, and providing alcohol to a minor after a student reported the crimes Feb. 28 in Esperanza Hall, the dorm at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.
According to a University Police summary, the student disclosed through an online campus security report.
A UPD crime victim advocate reached out to the student, however, the student did not want to file a police report.
The office of Victims Rights and Options mailed crime victim assistance information to the student because they left town, according to the summary.
The student was advised to go to a hospital for a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) and was given the contact information for a SANE program in their hometown.
Compliance officer John Wickline said the SANE kit has been dropped off at the Bexar County Crime Lab and is not in UPD’s possession.
Roger Ovara, forensic scientist at the Bexar County crime lab, said as soon as a SANE kit is collected from the hospital, it gets submitted as an actual case and processed by an analyst.
Once processed, it becomes documented by an actual report that is given to agencies such as Bexar County or the San Antonio Police Department.
“Texas implemented a Track Kit system, which tracks the overall time from the kit being in agencies’ custody and back to the crime lab,” Ovara said. “Texas aims for 120 days between the processes.”
Wickline said the victim was interviewed March 3 and multiple days after.
Follow-up witnesses were also interviewed between March 6 and March 9.
The suspect was taken to the Bexar County Detention Center at 200 N. Comal.
The victim and the suspect’s name are unknown.
A&M-SA rejected The Mesquite’s open records request for the complete police report on April 5.
Wickline said releasing extensive details could interfere with the investigation of the case.
