Adan Martinez Cruz
University Police arrested a graduate student and are charging him with sexually assaulting a fellow student at Stamp Student Union near the Maryland Food Co-op yesterday afternoon, police said.
Adan Martinez Cruz allegedly approached a female student from behind, wrapped his arm around her and ran his hands up her legs under her skirt and onto her buttocks before running away at 2:12 p.m., police said.
After the incident, the woman immediately approached police officers who were in the student union and described her assailant to them. Police found Martinez Cruz 30 minutes later on the ground floor of the student union, where the woman identified him before police took him to the central processing unit in Hyattsville.
Martinez Cruz had shed a green sweater he was wearing at the time of the incident, police said, but he did little else to hide from police.
“People do some strange things,” University Police spokesman Marc Limansky said.
Martinez Cruz is being charged with a fourth degree sexual offense, second degree assault and molesting a student, police said. His university directory listing describes him as a graduate research assistant studying agricultural and natural resource economics.
Police said moving fast was essential in making an arrest.
“I am extremely proud of the officers that made the swift apprehension in this case,” University Police Chief David Mitchell said in a press release.
Limansky said there were many people nearby during the assault but police didn’t identify any witnesses.
Limansky said the department routinely stations officers at the student union because it is a highly populated area between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., and he wants police to be seen.
“The key to the successful apprehension of the suspect was a combination of the immediate reporting of the offense to the police and the quick response of the officers who were present in the heavily populated Stamp Student Union building at the time of the offense,” he said in the press release.
Despite the swift arrest, students were surprised such an event could happen in the middle of the day at a place like the student union.
“This is Stamp,” sophomore neurobiology and physiology major Nkechi Herod said. “This is where everybody goes and eats and congregates and everything during the day. That should be a safe place for people.”
Freshman biology major Sarah Gordon said even though a suspect was caught, it was unsettling that someone would even consider an assault at the student union.
“Someone shouldn’t really feel like they’re able to get away with something like that if the security is good enough or the perceived security is good enough,” Gordon said. “That’s a little disconcerting to think you’re not safe when [police] really play up safety on campus.”
Gordon added that such a large student body brings with it some safety concerns.
“You have to be careful. You have to protect yourself,” she said.
“The truth is you go to school with 35,000 kids, none of whom you really know that well.”
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