ST. GEORGE, Utah — A former Utah Tech University student has been arrested and charged in connection with multiple reports of sexual assaults on Halloween night.
Alex Gabriel Barajas, 22, was arrested Friday and is facing multiple charges, including three counts of first-degree rape, three counts of burglary of a dwelling, two third-degree felony counts of lewdness, and one count of criminal trespass. He is not currently enrolled as a student.
According to court records, a student called 911 shortly after 3 a.m. on Nov. 1 to report a sexual assault at the Campus View Suites, a student apartment complex, St. George News reports. The student said she woke up and found an unknown man in her room, naked from the waist down. The assailant allegedly held her down and began assaulting her but she was able to fight him off. The suspect reportedly asked the victim, “Please don’t call anyone, I’m drunk.”
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Officers immediately secured the building and issued a safety notice advising students to keep their doors locked while the incident was being investigated. While officers were responding to the first reported assault, a second 911 call came in from another student reporting a similar incident. The victim was able to fight off the assailant and yelled for help. She also told police that the suspect asked her not to call police.
Utah Tech Police Use Video Surveillance to Identify Suspect
Using video surveillance footage, police were able to identify Barajas as the suspect. Police said the footage shows Barajas entering the building at 2:30 a.m. and making his way to the fourth floor, which is a secured females-only floor. Officers noted Barajas was seen checking the doors to 16 apartments and entering three of them that were unlocked. A student in the third room the suspect reportedly entered provided a similar account of a sexual assault to police.
When officers arrived after the first reported assault, Barajas was reportedly seen “ducking and hiding from officers and finally leaving the building in a full run.” He was ultimately taken into custody by Utah Tech police with assistance from officers with the St. George Police Department and booked into jail. Barajas was denied bail by District Judge Eric Gentry after investigators said he “has shown he is a danger to society and women by sneaking into a student housing complex and attacking three young women in the course of 45 minutes.”
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Seth Gubler, Executive Director of Housing at Utah Tech, said Barajas was able to enter the secured area without a key card, according to KMYU.
“Either the individual knew a person and went inside with them then separated, or he followed someone else, who may have assumed it was just another student coming in,” he said.
Utah Tech housing rules require all visitors to be signed in and out. If a guest plans to stay the night, housing must receive signatures of approval from all roommates. Gubler said residence assistants and campus police also monitor the dorms for suspicious activity but noted it isn’t all night.
