San Diego State police arrested one person and identified four suspects in connection with a series of sexual battery incidents on campus. None of the five men are SDSU students.
Twenty-one-year-old Glen Balancar was arrested Monday night near the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union after six people reported his description to police. He has been charged with two misdemeanour accounts of sexual battery.
SDSU police will continue to work with victims who came forward to confirm his identity and decide whether to bring additional charges against him.
“When we received a call last night, we responded immediately,” SDSU Police Lt. Lawrence said. “Obviously that’s the one thing we always encourage people, whether it be victims or witnesses, is when they see something happening or they’re a victim, they need to notify us as soon as possible.”
Police believe Balancar was on campus Monday afternoon and is the one accused of assaulting a woman in the Life Sciences North building.
Police say Balancar followed the woman into a classroom and sat close to her. He then reached out and touched her breast. After the woman pushed the suspect away, he allegedly attempted to touch her two more times before he was confronted by another student and left the classroom.
Additional reports of a man fitting Balancar’s description came in throughout the day. SDSU police believe he’s the only one responsible for these incidents. There are currently no laws or policies restricting non-students from coming to campus. But police can ban people from the school grounds for a number of days if they disrupt the learning process.
“It’s a public campus so people can come and go freely all they want,” Lawrence said. “We don’t have fences around this campus or anything like that. So we’re pretty limited on that end of it.”
In regards to a separate sexual battery incident early Saturday morning, SDSU police have identified all four suspects, one adult and three minors, who allegedly stole the personal belongings of students at an east-campus residence hall.
It was reported the four suspects were invited to the residence hall.
Once inside, one of the suspects asked a woman to touch his groin. When she refused, he placed her hand on his penis in an act described as sexual battery by the community safety alert.
The woman was able to escape and the suspects left the residence hall. No one was physically hurt.
Detectives are currently investigating the incident and conducting interviews to determine if charges will be brought against the suspects.
