{
  "id": "2023-10-07-indiana-university-bloomington-janitorial-contractor-assault",
  "slug": "indiana-university-bloomington-janitorial-contractor-assault-2023-10-07",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Indiana University Bloomington",
    "shortName": "IU",
    "state": "IN",
    "type": "public-r1",
    "alertSystemName": "IU Notify",
    "enrollment": 39000
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2023-10-07",
    "type": "sexual-offense",
    "cleryCategory": "timely-warning",
    "headline": "Forced to Drink, Then Assaulted Twice in One Shift: A Contracted Janitor's Supervisor Preyed on Her at Two IU Buildings",
    "summary": "During an evening work shift on October 7, 2023, a contracted janitorial worker at Indiana University Bloomington [reported that her supervisor at the third-party cleaning company forced her to drink alcohol and fondled her in a residence-hall dining area](https://www.idsnews.com/article/2023/10/iu-police-department-receives-report-sexual-assault-janitorial-worker), then followed her into a restroom at the Indiana Memorial Union roughly an hour later and sexually assaulted her. IU terminated the janitorial vendor's contract and barred the supervisor from campus once IUPD received the report on October 17, 2023.",
    "resolution": "under-investigation",
    "outcome": "Indiana University terminated its contract with the janitorial services vendor and the accused supervisor is no longer permitted to work at or provide services to the university. Neither the victim nor the suspect were IU employees; both worked for the third-party contractor. No criminal charging outcome for the supervisor was identified in the public reporting reviewed for this case."
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestampApprox": "October 17, 2023, when IUPD issued its crime notice after receiving the report",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "IU Bloomington Crime Notice: A contracted janitorial services employee reported that on the evening of October 7, 2023, her supervisor forced her to drink alcohol while on shift and fondled her in a residence hall dining area at approximately 12:30 a.m. At a second job site, the Indiana Memorial Union, the suspect followed the victim into a restroom at approximately 1:30 a.m. and sexually assaulted her. IUPD is actively investigating. Neither the victim nor the suspect are IU employees; both are associated with a third-party janitorial services contractor.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.idsnews.com/article/2023/10/iu-police-department-receives-report-sexual-assault-janitorial-worker",
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from the Indiana Daily Student's account of IUPD's October 2023 crime notice; the complete original notice text was not independently confirmed in quotation marks",
      "annotations": [
        "IUPD received the report on October 17, 2023, ten days after the assaults themselves occurred during the victim's October 7 evening shift, a reporting delay common in workplace sexual-assault cases where the victim continued to work near the supervisor",
        "The two assault locations, a residence-hall dining area and the Indiana Memorial Union restroom, were both closed to the public at the times given, meaning the janitorial crew's after-hours access is what put the victim alone with her supervisor in each location",
        "This case sits at the intersection of workplace violence and sexual offense: the assaults occurred entirely within an employment relationship (supervisor over subordinate at a third-party vendor) but IUPD's own crime classification and this archive's IncidentType taxonomy both categorize forced sexual contact as a sexual offense rather than workplace violence"
      ],
      "characterCount": 562
    }
  ],
  "context": "Indiana University Bloomington contracts with third-party vendors for some janitorial services across campus, including in residence-hall dining areas and the Indiana Memorial Union. According to the [Indiana Daily Student](https://www.idsnews.com/article/2023/10/iu-police-department-receives-report-sexual-assault-janitorial-worker), a contracted janitorial worker reported that during her evening shift on October 7, 2023, her supervisor at the vendor company forced her to drink alcohol while they were on the job, then fondled her in a residence-hall dining area at approximately 12:30 a.m. At a second job site roughly an hour later, the Indiana Memorial Union, the supervisor followed her into a restroom at approximately 1:30 a.m. and sexually assaulted her, according to [Fox59](https://fox59.com/indiana-news/iupd-employee-sexually-assaulted-by-supervisor-in-dining-hall-at-indiana-university/). IUPD received the report on October 17, 2023 and issued a crime notice to the campus community. IU subsequently terminated the vendor's contract, and the accused supervisor is no longer permitted to provide services to or at the university. Because neither the victim nor the suspect were IU employees or students, this case illustrates how Clery-reportable crimes can involve people entirely outside the traditional student/faculty/staff campus population, so long as the crime occurs within Clery geography.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "Both assaults occurred during a single evening work shift, at two different campus locations the janitorial crew accessed after hours, illustrating how off-hours facilities access can isolate a subordinate worker with an abusive supervisor",
    "The ten-day gap between the October 7 assaults and the October 17 police report reflects a common pattern in workplace sexual-assault cases, where a victim may continue working under or near the person who assaulted her before reporting",
    "IU's institutional response, terminating the vendor's contract and barring the supervisor from campus, addressed the immediate risk even though neither party was a direct IU employee",
    "The case sits at the boundary between this archive's 'sexual-offense' and 'workplace-violence' incident types: the assault was sexual in nature but occurred entirely within a supervisor-subordinate employment relationship"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "IUPD receives report of sexual assault by contracted janitorial worker Tuesday (Indiana Daily Student)",
      "url": "https://www.idsnews.com/article/2023/10/iu-police-department-receives-report-sexual-assault-janitorial-worker",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    },
    {
      "title": "IUPD: Employee sexually assaulted by supervisor in dining hall at Indiana University (FOX59)",
      "url": "https://fox59.com/indiana-news/iupd-employee-sexually-assaulted-by-supervisor-in-dining-hall-at-indiana-university/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "IUPD: Employee sexually assaulted by supervisor in dining hall at Indiana University (My Wabash Valley)",
      "url": "https://www.mywabashvalley.com/news/indiana-news/iupd-employee-sexually-assaulted-by-supervisor-in-dining-hall-at-indiana-university/?nxsparam=2",
      "type": "local-media"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "medium",
  "tags": [
    "sexual-offense",
    "workplace",
    "contractor",
    "supervisor",
    "indiana",
    "bloomington",
    "residence-hall",
    "indiana-memorial-union",
    "crime-notice",
    "no-fatalities"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-07-03",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-03",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}