Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A former fraternity president at Utah State University who pleaded guilty to trying to sexually abuse a woman who passed out at a party was ordered Monday to spend six months of jail — a sentence that resolves one of two cases filed against USU fraternity brothers this year.
Ryan Wray, 27, had been assigned to keep watch over partygoers who couldn't take care of themselves when he inappropriately touched the woman at a Pi Kappa Alpha party in 2014, prosecutors said.
The woman told a judge that her mother had taught her about the dangers of on-campus sexual assault and she still wonders how it happened to her, The Herald Journal newspaper in Logan reported.
Women need to yell that they have a zero tolerance policy on unwanted sexual attention, she said.
The Associated Press does not normally identify victims in sexual assault cases.
In court Monday, Judge Kevin Allen said college students shouldn't have to be afraid of assaults on campus. He also ordered Wray to complete sex offender treatment.
"Sexual assault is never invited, never asked for, under any conditions," he said. "It simply cannot be justified."
Wray pleaded guilty to a reduced felony charge of attempted forcible sexual abuse in October. Prosecutors agreed to recommend jail rather than prison and refer him to the Northern Utah Community Correctional Center, a halfway house.
He served as president of the fraternity last school year. After his arrest, Wray was expelled from the organization and suspended from the university for two years. The fraternity was also voluntarily suspended but has since resumed activities.
Wray has already completed his course work for a degree and moved back to Idaho, his lawyer Shannon Demler has said. He didn't immediately return a call for comment on the sentence.
Another former USU fraternity member was arrested in July and charged with aggravated sexual assault and rape after prosecutors said he twice assaulted women at the Sigma Chi house.
Jason Relopez, 27, has not yet entered a plea. Demler, who is also his lawyer, contends the encounters with both women were consensual.
Relopez is set to face trial in February.
Both fraternities were sanctioned in late August, after administrators pushed the student-run Greek Council to tackle the issue.
Sigma Chi and Pi Kappa Alpha were barred from having alcohol in their houses or recruiting new students for a year.
Utah State is located in Logan.
___
Information from: The Herald Journal
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
