Fraternity member accused of sexual misconduct
A member of Utah State University’s chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity was questioned by police and booked into jail on accusations of sexual abuse on Tuesday.
Several women have come forward, but only one has “cooperated” with the investigation so far, said Capt. Tyson Budge of the Logan City Police Department.
“He confessed to the act so he was booked into the Cache County Jail on a second-degree felony of forceful sexual abuse,” Budge said.
Ryan Wray, 26, who was president of Pi Kappa Alpha in the 2013-14 school year, met the $10,000 bail and was released. The court date has not been scheduled. In Utah the penalty for a second-degree felony is one to 15 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
Budge said that Wray, on several different occasions, was in charge of looking after individuals who were too inebriated to take care of themselves at parties. One woman came forward two weeks ago to the police and said that while being looked after she was aware of her surroundings and that Wray was touching her and attempting to touch her under her clothing.
“When she shared this story, some of the other females that had overheard it had similar experiences,” Budge said. “So they came in together and shared fairly similar stories. They were either inebriated or unconscious and woke to have him touching them.”
The report happened before spring break, so the police were not able to get in contact with him until Tuesday, when Wray voluntarily came in and admitted to the allegations and some other incidents that the police were not aware of before.
The university also will have an investigation to potentially enforce punishments against Wray.
“Obviously these are extremely serious allegations and we always respond immediately to any complaint of student sexual assault,” said Tim Vitale, executive director of public relations and marketing at USU.
Initially Vitale said that Wray would meet with administration Wednesday afternoon. However, he did not get back to the university and the meeting did not happen.
Krystin Deschamps, student conduct coordinator and assessment specialist at USU, said the incident report will be investigated by the university’s Title IX coordinator and the office of student services. Following the investigation, the Title IX coordinator will report what she finds to the office of student services.
If the office of student services determines a policy of the student code of conduct has been violated, then they will issue sanctions against the student or potentially the fraternity.
“All students have the right to due process and so we can’t take an action against a student without giving the student a chance to present his or her side of the story,” Deschamps said.
— dahdahjm@gmail.com