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The director of counseling at Utah State University's Price branch was put on paid leave Friday, a day after campus police released a report saying he hindered a sexual assault investigation.
USU Eastern police said the counselor gave names of an alleged victim, suspects and others involved to men's basketball coaches before police began their investigation.
This "caused a safety risk to all parties involved," Carbon County Sheriff's Office Detective Rory Bradley told USU Eastern Chancellor Joe Peterson on Sept. 21, 12 days before the counselor was put on leave, according to the police report.
"Bradley explained to the chancellor ... that the crime committed by [the counselor] is Utah code 76-8-306, obstruction of justice in a criminal investigation, a class B misdemeanor," wrote USU Eastern police Sgt. Lynn Archuleta.
USU spokesman Tim Vitale said that in that meeting, Peterson was told the counselor's actions "bordered on criminal misdemeanor." But because no charges had been filed and the school didn't have the full details, administrators waited for the police department to complete its investigation and release the report before deciding whether to take action.
Campus police earlier this week turned their investigation over to the Carbon County prosecutor, who will determine whether to charge the suspects. Their case summary describes the counselor's "counterproductive" disclosures.
Bradley, who assisted campus police with their investigation, said Friday that he doesn't expect charges to be filed against the counselor, explaining that there is no evidence the counselor intended to break the law or impede the investigation.
The school is now seeking to determine whether the counselor violated school rules or federal guidelines designed to protect victims of sexual assault. The U.S. Department of Education, in guidance to students titled "Know Your Rights," says "your school should only disclose information to individuals who are responsible for handling the school's response to sexual violence."
The department's Office of Civil Rights is investigating more than 100 universities around the country, including Westminster College in Salt Lake City, for alleged mishandling of sexual assault cases.
At USU Eastern, "we take any allegation of wrongdoing very seriously," said Greg Dart, vice chancellor for enrollment management, "and we investigate it as fully as possible."
A faculty member will step in to oversee a team of graduate-student counselors while the school probe is underway, Dart said. He did not have an estimate of how long the school investigation could take.
The Thursday report from USU Eastern police names three men suspected of sexual assault and six others believed to be involved. It includes accounts from witnesses who were at a party in the USU Eastern dorms the night of Sept. 3.
The 64-page report includes text messages seized from cellphones and tablets of four students, as well as photos that show the alleged victim unconscious with her head in a trash can.
USU Eastern is conducting its own investigation into the alleged assault, as required by federal law.
The Salt Lake Tribune is not naming the suspects, who have not been charged, or the counselor. This newspaper also generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.
Two players on the men's basketball team and one on the women's basketball team remain suspended from athletics at USU Eastern. The school halted all men's basketball activities Sept. 11 before lifting that sanction at the end of September.
The alleged victim told police her last memory of the night was of knocking on the door of one of the suspects, looking for the women's basketball team player who had brought her to the party. She woke up in her own bed Sept. 4, she said, wearing someone else's shirt.
According to the police report, several members of the men's basketball team were at the gathering, which included alcohol. Multiple attendees recalled the alleged victim was inebriated that night, with balance that was "poor at best."
Last year, Utah's criminal code was amended to clarify that if a person knows that someone else is "unconscious or unaware" or "incapable of understanding or resisting," having sex with the incapacitated person is rape.
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