UPDATE (11:34PM): Rutgers Police announced that 19-year-old Danwitt D. Jean-Baptiste, of Roselle, has been arrested and charged with one count of criminal sexual contact in this case.
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—According to a Rutgers crime alert, a female student reported being approached by an unknown man while walking on College Avenue between Hamilton Street and Seminary Place at approximately 2pm on November 10 .
The man proceeded to engage her and conversation and hold her hand, according to the alert, before she “rebuffed him,” he touched her chest, and then walked away towards Hamilton Street.
“The perpetrator is described as a dark skinned black male, 20 to 21 years old, approximately 5’6” tall, 180 pounds, with a close “buzz” haircut, and wearing glasses, with a thin black jacket, and a yellow plaid button-up shirt,” reads the alert.
The Rutgers University Police Department asks anyone with information, or who may have been in the area at the time, contact their Detective Bureau at (848) 932-8025.
This incident marks the second of its kind in just over a month. On October 7, a woman reported being forcibly fondled on the Livingston campus, generating a crime alert.
Three days later, an on-campus convenience store was burglarized, and the Rutgers community was notified.
The next eight crime alerts came in response to assaults or robberies, and the two often came side-by-side.
Since November 1, five different assaults and/or robbery incidents generated crime alerts, and it appears other serious crimes were not reported to the public during this period.
According to the Daily Targum, Rutgers police officers have been handing out statements to the public around campus that read as follows:
In response to multiple robberies that have occurred in the 5th and 6th wards, the Rutgers University Police Department (RUPD) and the New Brunswick Police Department (NBPD) have been working together to increase patrols and identify perpetrators responsible for these crimes. Please be alert and aware of your surroundings while traveling in the streets at night and be mindful of those observed loitering in the area, especially juveniles.
Please also be aware of suspicious vehicles that appear to be circling the block multiple times or are idling in the area for no legitimate purpose. Vehicles that have been associated with the robbery incidents are both a small white SUV and a dark colored 4 door sedan.
The joint investigation into these robberies is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact either the NBPD Detective Bureau at 732-745-5218 or the RUPD Detective Bureau at 848-932-8025.
Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.
