Cal police receive anonymous letter documenting sexual assault at frat house

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ByAlan Wang KGO logo
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Cal police receive letter anonymous documenting sexual assault
For the third time in two months another UC Berkeley fraternity house is under investigation for an alleged sexual assault.

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- For the third time in two months there have been reports of women being drugged and sexually assaulted at frat parties near the UC Berkeley campus. The most recent alleged attack may have occurred on Halloween.

While police are doing what they can to protect students, they say they've hit a wall. What makes this case unusual is that police are relying on anonymous information about a nameless victim who hasn't come forward.

Meanwhile, Cal has come under fire for not doing enough for sexual assault victims and that's one reason why they're making every effort to reach out.

UC Berkeley police received an anonymous letter describing the sexual assault of a student on Halloween night. It allegedly happened during a party at a fraternity house on Piedmont Avenue. Berkeley police would not identify the frat house and so far, no victim has come forward.

"I think sometimes they don't feel like it's necessarily something that they can do. But we do want to make sure they know that they can," Berkeley police officer Jennifer Coates said.

Police say they can't pursue the case until a victim comes forward.

Over the past two months, they've investigated alleged sexual assaults at two other fraternity houses, including Delta Kappa Epsilon, where police were told five woman unknowingly ingested a date rape drug. But like the

current case, no victims have come forward.

"I think it's getting more attention and it needs more attention," John Bursick, a UC Berkeley student said.

Police say nationwide, 90 percent of all victims who were sexually assaulted on campus knew their attackers.