A 21-year-old man is facing charges of sexually assaulting and choking a fellow student at Norwich University in 2019, according to Northfield police.
Northfield Police Chief John Helfant declined on Tuesday to release the man’s identity, saying it’s protected information under the Youthful Offender Law. The law allows people 21 or younger to have their criminal cases start in family court, where the proceedings are confidential.
But Washington County State’s Attorney Rory Thibault said that prosecutors decide whether to file a case in adult criminal court or as a youthful offender case in family court, and that he had not yet “had the opportunity to thoroughly review the affidavit or evidence.”
Thibault said that sexual assault and domestic assault cases involving people over age 18 “typically … are not directly filed as youthful offender petitions — however, each case is reviewed independently and victim input may be solicited as part of such decision.”
The accused man was 18 at the time of the alleged offenses, according to Helfant.
Northfield police received a report on April 5 that a man had sexually assaulted a woman in dorms while they were students at the military academy, police said in a press release this week.
The woman told police that over a two-month period, from September to November 2019, the man sexually assaulted her and also choked her three or four times, police said in the release.
Police said the man was issued citations April 29 on charges of sexual assault and first-degree aggravated domestic assault and sexual assault. He is due in court May 19 to answer the charges.
Norwich spokesperson Daphne Larkin said in a statement that the school was “fully cooperating” with law enforcement.
The university takes “every allegation of sexual violence seriously,” and assigns an independent investigator to try to determine what happened, she said.
“If we find that there is a violation of the policy, we administer appropriate discipline, including expulsion from the university,” according to the statement.
She said Norwich could not share information related to ongoing investigations, citing school policy and federal law.
