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Man arrested, accused of raping multiple women at Logan fraternity house

Posted at 12:04 PM, Jul 22, 2015
and last updated 2015-07-22 23:12:18-04

LOGAN, Utah - Authorities have arrested a 27-year-old man accused of allegedly raping numerous women at a fraternity house in Logan.

Logan Police said Jason Brian Relopez is being held on seven counts of alleged rape with a $140,000 bail. A representative from USU tells FOX 13 news the man has been temporarily suspended and banned from campus while the legal process plays out.

Officers said a woman reported several alleged sexual assaults at the Sigma Chi Fraternity in Logan.

During the investigation, authorities learned several other women had reported alleged assaults involving Relopez.

Logan Police Chief Gary Jensen said two more victims came forward and also reported similar events.

"We were able to identify two other potential victims," Jensen said. "As such, we made contact with those potential victims and were able to interview them as well and also gained further information and evidence."

Officers said the alleged assaults happened between October 2014 and July 2015.

Authorities said the patterns and similarities in the reports lead them to believe there may be other victims.

Tim Vitale, director of communications for USU, said this is an "extremely serious situation" and that Sigma Chi has not had many problems on campus in the past.

"Sigma Chi has not been on the front burner of problems for us," Vitale said.

He added: "It is a safe campus. It's tough to say that given that we've had two instances in recent times."

Holly Mullen, executive director of the rape recovery center, said two known cases at neighboring fraternities in the same year isn't unheard of.

"Utah campuses probably reflect the national numbers that we know about for college sexual assault, and that is one in four, or one in five, females will be the victim of some type of sexual assault," she said.

But Mullen said not all of those victims report the assault.

"Only about 10 to 12 percent of victims will ever come forward," she said.

Logan officers said they would like to speak with anyone who might have information in this case at (435) 716-9000.