AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin Police Department has issued two arrest warrants for sexual assaults that occurred close to the University of Texas Austin’s campus in August 2020.
22-year-old Benjamin Berkowitz and 21-year-old Andres Aiza have been charged with aggravated sexual assault on May 13, 2022, an arrest affidavit mentioned.
According to the police report, the 2 males provided to stroll two feminine UT students house from a fraternity occasion the evening of Aug. 27, 2020.
According to the affidavit, the suspects made a number of advances towards every of the victims. “She described him as aggressive, forceful and was not responding when she pushed him away,” the affidavit states, referring to Berkowitz.
Both victims acknowledged they made a number of makes an attempt to say no to every of the suspects, however each males continued the assault.
One of the victims was lastly in a position to free herself from the locked room, and bumped into the opposite room screaming.
The victims’ roommates heard the screaming and known as 911.
Officers responded to the decision within the early morning hours of Aug. 28, 2020.
A SAFE package was supplied to each victims within the days following. DNA swabs have been then despatched to a lab, and in October 2021, sperm outcomes confirmed “very strong support” match to each Aiza and Berkowitz’s DNA.
According to our earlier reporting, the ladies who reported the assaults acknowledged each males have been members of Texas Rho.
Texas Rho is a remnant of the previous UT Austin chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, which was shut down by the college in 2017 for hazing violations. While the fraternity misplaced its constitution and disassociated from its nationwide group, former members of SAE shaped Texas Rho and now unofficially function as a distinguished social membership from SAE’s former property.
The incident on the time launched a petition to get the unofficial fraternity utterly shut down.
KXAN has reached out to school management and APD for extra information.
This is a growing story. KXAN will replace it as extra information turns into accessible.