Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 28, 1990 TAG: 9003280624
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B8 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: By NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
James W. Gilbert, 19, of Pleasant Valley, N.Y., was arrested and charged with raping a woman early Sunday. He was released from the Radford City Jail after posting bond, Radford Police Chief A.C. Earles said.
Gilbert is not a Radford student, university spokeswoman Debbie Brown said.
He was arrested shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday after the woman reported she had been raped less than an hour earlier in an apartment near campus.
A description the woman gave of the man and his car led to the arrest. Gilbert was arrested after police stopped his car a few miles from where the woman said she was attacked.
"It was an individual who was known by the girl," Earles said. "They had been at a party earlier that night and they went back to the apartment together."
He said it could be considered an "acquaintance rape" or "date rape."
The other attack was reported to police about 1 a.m. Sunday. The woman told police she was walking alone in the 700 block of Fairfax Street when a man grabbed her from behind and pushed her to the ground, Earles said.
The man held her on the ground with his knee on her chest, Earles said. When the woman began screaming, kicking and scratching, the man fled, he said.
The woman told police the man had a fair complexion, was in his early 20s and about 5 feet 9 or 5 feet 10, had dark brown hair, brown eyes and weighed about 180 pounds.
He also had a scratch on the left side of his face where the victim scratched him, police said.
The attacks were the seventh and eighth against Radford students reported this year to city or university police.
In January, three attacks - including the rape of a student in her apartment - were reported to city police. A 17-year-old Christiansburg youth is awaiting trial on those charges.
In February, three more incidents were reported - two on campus and one off campus. City and campus police say they have no suspects in those cases.
by CNB