OXFORD, Ohio -- Police arrested a man who they said sexually assaulted a woman early Saturday.
An Oxford police officer was working on a traffic stop at the intersection of S. Poplar Street and Ardmore Drive at about 2:46 a.m. when he heard screaming nearby. A 21-year-old Miami University student ran to him and reported she had just been sexually assaulted in a nearby yard by a man she had just met, but whose name she did not know, police said in a news release.
The victim told police what direction her attacker had gone, and officers found him within minutes. She positively identified the man, 21-year-old Brandon Levi Gilbert, as her attacker, police said.
Police arrested Gilbert. He was charged with rape, kidnapping and assault. He's being held in the Butler County Jail.
Gilbert is employed by Miami University in a "buildings and grounds" role, according to a university spokesperson. He has been suspended without pay until his case moves through the legal system.
The incident occurred after at least five other reports of sexual assaults at and around Miami University since August.
Police previously said they believed that the incidents were unrelated, despite rumors on social media that a serial rapist was targeting students in the area. Gilbert has only been charged in the one assault. Police said the investigation is ongoing.
Oct. 1 is the deadline for Ohio's public colleges and universities to submit campus crime reports under the under the Clery Act, a federal mandate to report campus crime statistics and policies for campus security.
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In 2016, Miami University reported 25 on-campus sex offenses including rape, sodomy and fondling at its Oxford campus. The university reported 14 similar crimes in 2014, and ten in 2015. There has also been an increase in on-campus aggravated assaults, according to Miami University’s 2017 report. Those reports does not include off-campus crimes.
