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LOGAN — A former Utah State University student and fraternity brother has been ordered to stand trial, accused of sexually assaulting two female students he met through the school's Greek system.
On the stand Thursday, a 19-year-old woman testified that, in his bedroom at the fraternity house, Jason Brian Relopez, 27, told her, "I will win tonight because I am stronger than you, and we both know it," before raping her multiple times.
The woman testified that she had been drinking when she went to the fraternity house last month and ended up alone with Relopez, an acquaintance she had met at a barbecue. Before long, kissing had turned frightening, the woman said, when Relopez slapped her and began a night of demoralizing sexual encounters that she said she couldn't object to without putting herself at risk.
"I had been choked. I had been hit, so I was going to tell him whatever he wanted to hear," the woman testified.
A 20-year-old woman also testified that as they studied together at her house late one night in October 2014, Relopez had pinned her and raped her. Ashamed, she contacted school officials but did not approach police until she heard of the second woman's allegations last month, receiving a text message that said simply, "He did it again."
"I just wanted it all to go away," the woman said, weeping on the witness stand. When she learned of the new accusations, "I felt incredibly guilty that I hadn't done anything about it months ago."
Shannon Demler, Relopez's attorney, argued that the accusations of both women have been fueled by their regrets after having consensual sex with Relopez. He noted that neither of the women called out for help, despite knowing there were other people in the houses at the time.
We think this is a case where future regret doesn't equal rape and doesn't equal aggravated sexual assault.
–Shannon Demler
"We think this is a case where future regret doesn't equal rape and doesn't equal aggravated sexual assault," Demler told the judge.
Relopez, of Hemet, California, is charged with aggravated sexual assault and rape, both first-degree felonies. An earlier charge of aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony, was removed from amended charges filed Wednesday.
As indicated at the time of Relopez's arrest, a Logan police spokesman said Thursday investigators believe other women may have been victimized by him and encourage anyone who might have been to come forward.
Relopez has since been suspended from the school, banned from the campus and kicked out of the Sigma Chi fraternity. Five men, who identified themselves as members of the fraternity, attended Thursday's hearing but declined to comment.
Demler pressed the 19-year-old woman on the underage drinking that had occurred on the night she said Relopez raped her and the days that passed before she went to police. Demler implied the woman was trying to hide a consensual relationship with Relopez, who was dating her friend at the time.
"I was scared of what would happen, what he would do," the woman testified after describing the encounter that left bruises and scratches on her body.
The 20-year-old woman testified that the attack by Relopez was brief, lasting only a frightening few minutes, after Relopez ignored her opposition that they "go all the way."
"I asked him to stop three times or so. I said, 'I don't want to do this,'" the woman said. "It was like I wasn't even there. I was completely ignored."
Afterward, Relopez got up and mumbled "I'm sorry," before eventually leaving, the woman testified. During cross-examination, the woman said she saw Relopez to the door, giving him a hug and a kiss before he left.
Afterward, she threw her bloody underwear and shorts in the trash, hoping to forget what had happened, she said.
Both women testified that Relopez, known by the nickname "Relo," was popular in his fraternity as well as with women in their own sororities.
Relopez will return to court Aug. 25 for a bail hearing.
