Students victims of assaults, mugging

Oberlin's safety was questioned this year as a series of sexual assaults, robberies and flasher incidents hit the town and the College.

Jonah A. Locke, 25, of Elyria was arrested in Brecksville, Ohio on Feb. 27 for allegedly perpetrating assaults in Lorain, Medina and Cuyahoga Counties. Police believe him to be responsible for at least six assaults that occurred in Oberlin between October and March.

During the period before Locke was arrested, many students felt unsafe about walking alone. Security and police encouraged students to use the College's escort service.

At a forum on the assaults, Angelique Yost, investigator for the Office of Security, said, "Keep in mind that nothing is fool-proof, nothing 100 percent. I always stress, don't walk by yourself. In normal situations I say walk in pairs. In abnormal situations I say walk in groups of three. This is an abnormal situation."

The first two of these assaults occurred on Oct. 30 and Dec. 28. The assaulter struck again in January when two women were attacked on Jan. 16 and Jan. 20. The assaulter attacked women on February 24 and February 26. The last of the reported attacks occurred in March.

The attacks were reported as violent. "The pattern seems to be women, sometimes alone, sometimes in pairs. [He] has grabbed women, pushed them to the ground and has sometimes actually put his hand on their genitalia," Joe DiChristina, interim director of security, said.

Victims of the assaults were both students and townspeople.

A victim described her experience: "I was walking east on East Lorain Street and I spotted a suspicious looking character about five yards ahead of me. I moved to cross the street to avoid the man, but I was too late. The man jumped out and tackled me and put his hand up my skirt and then ran away. I was screaming the whole time."

Some students criticized the actions of the Police Department and College Security in light of the assaults. There was concern that students were not adequately informed about the incidents and that there was not enough response on campus.

"I announced it in my math class this morning and I don't think anybody knew about it," a student said after the last assault.

"I think there should have been a massive uprising and yet there was none," a victim said.

The victim also said, "I think the police were incompetent in their hunt in that they neglected to release a profile of this guy to surrounding areas."

In mid-March the arresting officer in Brecksville, Seargent Lody, said that the attack that led up to the arrest was similar to those that occurred in Oberlin. On the day before the arrest and the day of the arrest, the alleged assaulter attacked women in Oberlin, Medina and Kent. He sustained scratches on his face from a previous attack. The Kent victim could not identify the suspect because of these marks.

The Brecksville police then received the teletype from the Oberlin attack, figured out it was the same man and went to his residence in Lakewood for the arrest.

According to Lody, Locke confessed to "numerous attacks" but not to a rape some police officers believe he may have committed.

"He's locked up on $25,000 bond. He's just sitting in jail having a good old time," Lody said. "He ate good and said he slept good."

Lody believes that the charge of sexual imposition, the charge being pursued for most of the attacks, is too weak. "He's been arrested nine, 10 times and they're charging him with sexual imposition," Lody said. "First he was just flashing, now he is molesting them, next it will be rape, then murder. So therefore my theory was to hell with him."

To get around this, Lody hopes that the Brecksville charges will be changed to kidnapping and abduction. He said, "He obstructed her freedom, and if he can prove differently, then great for him."

Flasher

In addition to the assaulter, Oberlin police finally arrested the mysterious Oberlin flasher who confessed to incidents that date back to June 1995. David L. Coury, 36, of Collins, Ohio, was arrested on March 6 after months of investigation by College Security, the Oberlin Police Department and students.

College junior Sarah Kotok, after having several encounters with the flasher herself, became very interested in catching the flasher. "Every time I'd go for a walk I'd take a walkie-talkie from Security," she said. Kotok said that she remembers thinking "No, I'm not going to let this fucker take over the Arb."

The apprehension of Coury was aided by Kotok's sighting of him earlier that day in the Arb. She had called Security with a description.

Police later arrested a man fitting the same description.

After this arrest and Locke's arrest, Police Chief Robert Jones said, "So far we feel things are pretty well under control now that we have these two individuals."

Sexual Assault

On Sept. 29, a non-related sexual assault occurred in the College Arboretum shortly after 3 a.m. The victim had gone for a walk alone and was returning to his residence hall when two males with handguns drove up in an automobile and forced the student into the car.

No one has been arrested in connection with the attack.

The assault and the College's reaction to it raised concerns among students and led to a speak-out, sponsored by Student Life and Services, that was held on October 5.

Many students were angered by the choice not to specify the gender of the victim in the first all campus mailing about the incident.

Dean of Student Life and Services Charlene Cole-Newkirk, who wrote the letter, said that the gender was omitted at the victim's request.

Students also responded to the issue of the victim's gender in a more personal way. At the speak-out junior Pavel DeJesus said that finding out that the victim was male made him "embarrassed [the assault] wasn't as big an issue in my own mind" when he thought the victim was female. Before this realization, DeJesus said he, "passed the day feeling bad for the women [he] come in contact with, "but not as bad as he did when he learned the victim's gender."

The attack raised concern about assault in general and also the role of College Security. Some criticisms that arose from the speak-out included a lack of multicultural education for Security officers and a lack of connection between students and the town community.

Mugging

Over Winter Term, a student was attacked and robbed in Tappan Square as he was walking alone around 10 p.m. According to Oberlin Police Department Detective David Jasinski, the student was approached by two juveniles, one of whom showed the student a razor blade and said, "Give us your money or we'll cut you."

The juveniles forced the student to empty his pockets from which the attackers got $10. Then they searched his backpack. The victim them struck the assailant and chased him.

Police arrested a 15-year old suspect in connection with the attack the next day.