Police deny report of campus sexual predator

Report aired last week on WNEM TV 5 questioned by University, students; station defends 'essence of story’

November 6, 2006 —

The University Police Department is denying a televised report that a sexual predator may be using the Internet to target female students.

"I don't know anything about a predator," said Police Chief Ron Trepkowski. "We've never gotten a report of a predator being here."

The report in question ran Tuesday night on WNEM TV 5 and warned women on campus that a predator could be using the computer to lure students into a personal meeting for the purpose of sexually assaulting them.

According to the segment, a student said she had received an e-mail from the campus telling her to be aware of online sexual predators that may be lurking at SVSU.

However, officials denied that such a University e-mail existed, saying any such communication was most likely part of a mass Internet mailing not specific to the institution.

TV 5 News Director Ian Rubin said the station would not reveal the identity of the student who received the e-mail but did say it had circulated around the University. He also confirmed the e-mail was not an official University communication.

"[The e-mail] had been spreading around campus and that's part of how it came to our attention," Rubin said. "It was a result of us being notified by people that were in receipt of this e-mail."

Both Rubin and Assignment Editor Doug Moiles said they were unsure if the reporter had seen the e-mail, though Moiles added the station was trying to obtain a copy of it.

According to Rubin, the e-mail did relate to prior reported assaults on campus, though the reports themselves are also being debated.

The segment indicated there have been three cases of criminal sexual conduct on campus since September and that all three cases are open.

While the story did not cite the source, Rubin said the information came from the monthly crime reports published on the University Web site.

The crime reports showed three items relating to criminal sexual conduct, though one entry was a supplement to a previous case. This means there have only been two such incidents this semester, one reported on Sept. 29 and the other Oct. 19.

Trepkowski added that both allegations were issues of inappropriate touching involving people who knew each other and were unrelated.

"We made a mistake in airing three open cases," Rubin said. "There were three items included on the docket but only two open cases."

Despite the error, Rubin says the station stands by its story.

"We vigorously check the accuracy of every allegation brought to our attention," he said. "And while there is a difference between two open cases and three open cases, the essence of the story documenting those two cases made for an important story for us to tell."

Whether the cases are actually still open has also been questioned. As of Friday, the crime reports on the Web site indicated the cases were indeed open, though Trepkowski says they have been closed.

He said such cases are often marked open until disciplinary actions have been decided on or until the case is adjudicated by the court. He said both of these circumstances could mean a case that is closed could remain listed as open on the Web site for as long as several months.

"I wish they would have come to me," Trepkowski said. "They did call me that night and leave a message, but they had already aired the story before we got back to them."

According to one of the two students interviewed in the segment, they were not informed as to the direction the segment was eventually going to take. Junior Jackie Haase says she was asked late Tuesday afternoon to do the interview and that its focus was going to be on sexual assault prevention.

However, Haase says both she and the other student were asked several times about the e-mail in question, though neither had heard nor knew anything about it. And while the segment did feature the tips they provided, she felt some of what she said was taken out of context to sensationalize the story.

"I feel taken advantage of," she said. "I was put in an awkward situation, and I was very disappointed in the report.”