Sexual assault on FGCU campus has students on edge

A sexual assault occurred during the first week of classes on FGCU’s campus. The victim says the incident occurred after she met the perpetrator on a dating app.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the Tuesday evening incident. No one has been arrested.

“When I read this morning that there was a sexual assault on campus, I was pretty shocked,” an FGCU student stated.

The victim told detectives they met on a dating app. After the initial meeting, they went to the victim’s dorm room. That is where, the victim says, the assault occurred.

Students say the entire incident scares them.

Jason Street, a junior, was shocked that this happened so early in the semester. “It’s so new into the semester.”

Street is from out of state, so he says this incident isn’t a very good first impression for him. “Just the fact that it happened so quickly here, it’s awful.”

Freshman Logan Lorie says she just arrived on campus, and now she’s afraid of who could be lurking. “I just got to campus, so it’s really scary knowing that there’s people coming on here to do things like that.” 

When it comes to dating, however, Lorie did say dating apps are not her thing. “Dating apps are kind of risky. You’re getting your first impression off of a picture or a description. You don’t really know that person,” she said. “Make sure somebody knows where you are at all times.”

Campus police at FGCU tweeted out some safety tips as well after the incident, including there is safety in numbers, so try to go with a companion if you can.

They also mentioned that looking up the person you’re meeting on social media and never giving them too much personal information is a good idea.

CRIME ALERT-TIMELY NOTIFICATION pic.twitter.com/XoM7yZahXF

— FGCU Police Department (@FGCUPD) August 19, 2020