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Two University of Central Florida students have been arrested and charged after an unidentified woman accused them of rape at an off-campus party. The Eta Rho Chapter of Alpha Tau Omega at Central Florida was suspended on Tuesday, April 24, as a result of the accusations.
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, 26-year-old Jack Ryan Smith of Winter Springs was arrested on Saturday, April 21, and is facing charges of sexual battery of an incapacitated person. In addition, 20-year-old David Kirk was arrested on Tuesday, April 24, and was also charged with sexual battery of an incapacitated person.
Smith is out of jail on $10,000 bond while Kirk’s first appearance in front of a judge was on the morning of Wednesday, April 25.
While police said that the residence on Fiske Circle is often the venue for parties hosted by the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, fraternity officials claim the party was not a fraternity-hosted event.
via Orlando Sentinel:
A woman told deputies she attended the party in the 4900 block of Fiske Circle, near UCF, which is a party home for the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. She drank vodka and flavored water on the way there. At the party, she drank green apple-flavored shaved ice with vodka and spent most of night in the backyard by a fire pit, where she talked with Kirk and Smith, according to an arrest report.
The woman told deputies she was stumbling and slurring her words and was blackout drunk at this time, only remembering “snapshots” of the night. She said she remembered waking up in a bedroom, on her stomach in a queen-sized bed, her feet on the floor, and naked. Smith, she told deputies, was raping her, according to the report. At the same time, Kirk was forcing her to perform oral sex on him, the report said.
The woman said she was in shock and numb, the report said, adding that she remembered hearing one of the men saying “my turn, my turn,” and the pair switched positions as she cried. The report did not say if she is a student. Next thing the woman remembered, she was sitting on the floor in the bathroom across the hall from the bedroom crying, according to the report. She texted her friends for help, met them and went home. The next day, she went to Florida Hospital East Orlando.
While the party and alleged rape reportedly occurred off-campus, Central Florida University has suspended the fraternity because they said Alpha Tau Omega violated five charges of alcohol-related misconduct and one of disruptive misconduct.
On Tuesday, April 24, the national Alpha Tau Omega organization released a statement about the incident saying ATO “supports the woman alleging sexual assault” and that the party was “not in any way connected” to the fraternity. The organization estimates about 10 of the 250 people who attended the party are active members of the fraternity.
The victim has not yet been identified.
