{
  "id": "2023-02-10-uc-santa-cruz-upper-campus-forest-sexual-assault",
  "slug": "uc-santa-cruz-upper-campus-forest-sexual-assault-2023-02-10",
  "institution": {
    "name": "University of California, Santa Cruz",
    "shortName": "UCSC",
    "state": "CA",
    "type": "public-r1",
    "alertSystemName": "UCSC CruzAlert / Timely Warning Crime Bulletin",
    "enrollment": 18800
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2023-02-10",
    "type": "sexual-assault",
    "cleryCategory": "timely-warning",
    "headline": "Student found unconscious near a forest party; rape investigation opened",
    "headlinePublic": "Student found unconscious near a forest party; rape investigation opened",
    "summary": "A [UC Santa Cruz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Santa_Cruz) student was found unconscious near a large party in the [Upper Campus forest](https://news.ucsc.edu/2023/02/crime-bulletin/) on the night of Friday, February 10, 2023, and was determined to have been raped. [UCSC Police](https://police.ucsc.edu/) issued a Clery [Timely Warning Crime Bulletin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clery_Act) with an unusually detailed suspect description. The case unfolded against a [later-confirmed history](https://lookout.co/uc-santa-cruz-reported-inaccurate-crime-statistics-state-auditors-report-finds) of UCSC underreporting Clery sex-offense statistics.",
    "outcome": "Suspect not identified at time of bulletin. Victim was found by friends and brought to a campus fire station for medical attention.",
    "resolution": "under-investigation"
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestampApprox": "Saturday or Sunday, February 11-12, 2023 (UCSC posts Timely Warning Crime Bulletins to news.ucsc.edu within 24-48 hours of major incidents)",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "Timely Warning Crime Bulletin: Sexual assault\n\nUC Santa Cruz police officers are investigating a rape that occurred late Friday night in the Upper Campus forest at the residential campus. The female victim and friends were at a large party in the woods. Around midnight, the friends found the woman passed out and brought her to the fire station on campus for medical attention. The woman shared with her friends that she had been sexually assaulted.\n\nThe suspect is described as a young white man, approximately 5-foot, 10-inches tall with short brown hair and brown eyes.\n\nFor information about the investigation, contact Detective Paul DeOcampo at ppdeocam@ucsc.edu, or provide information through the UCPD Tip Line at 831-459-3847. Information can be kept confidential.\n\nThis Timely Warning Crime Bulletin is being issued in compliance with the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://news.ucsc.edu/2023/02/crime-bulletin/",
      "sourceDescription": "UCSC News, Timely Warning Crime Bulletin: Sexual assault, February 2023",
      "annotations": [
        "UCSC's Upper Campus is a large forested area used informally for outdoor parties, disclosing 'forest at the residential campus' is unusual location framing for a Clery alert",
        "The phrase 'found her passed out' is candid about the survivor's incapacitation without explicitly using clinical or legal terms like 'unconscious' or 'incapacitated'",
        "Detailed suspect description ('young white man, approximately 5-foot, 10-inches tall with short brown hair and brown eyes') is rare in acquaintance-context alerts and typical of stranger-context alerts",
        "Friends bringing the victim to the campus fire station for medical attention reflects the [CARE advocacy program](https://care.ucsc.edu/) and student-network informal response patterns",
        "UCSC was [later found by a 2024 California State Auditor's report](https://lookout.co/uc-santa-cruz-reported-inaccurate-crime-statistics-state-auditors-report-finds) to have underreported Clery sex-offense statistics, institutional context for any UCSC sexual-assault alert from this period",
        "Verbatim text recovered from the news.ucsc.edu Timely Warning Crime Bulletin page, narrative paragraph, suspect description, and Detective DeOcampo / 831-459-3847 tip-line contact are preserved as published"
      ],
      "characterCount": 939
    }
  ],
  "context": "[UC Santa Cruz](https://www.ucsc.edu/) issues Clery [timely warnings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clery_Act) under the brand 'Timely Warning Crime Bulletin' and posts them to [news.ucsc.edu](https://news.ucsc.edu/) and the [UCSC Police community alerts page](https://police.ucsc.edu/crime-prevention/alerts/). The February 2023 [Upper Campus forest](https://news.ucsc.edu/2023/02/crime-bulletin/) rape bulletin is one of several UCSC sexual-assault Clery alerts during a period when the institution's compliance was under federal and state scrutiny. A [California State Auditor's report released July 30, 2024](https://lookout.co/uc-santa-cruz-reported-inaccurate-crime-statistics-state-auditors-report-finds) found UCSC had underreported rape, dating violence, and domestic battery in its Clery Annual Security Reports; UCSC subsequently issued a [November 2024 republication of its Annual Security Report](https://news.ucsc.edu/2024/11/clery-republication.html) correcting its on-campus rape and stalking statistics. The [CARE program](https://care.ucsc.edu/) is the institution's confidential advocacy resource for survivors and is named in nearly every UCSC sexual-assault timely warning.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "Upper Campus forest party setting reflects UCSC's distinctive geographic context, large outdoor social gatherings on residential land",
    "Detailed suspect description (5'10\", short brown hair, brown eyes) is unusual for incapacitation cases where survivors often cannot describe attackers",
    "Friends bringing victim to campus fire station reflects student-network informal response patterns",
    "UCSC was later found to have underreported Clery sex-offense statistics, institutional credibility context",
    "CARE is the confidential advocacy program named in every UCSC sexual-assault TWCB",
    "UCSC ASR was republished in 2024 due to misreporting findings, heightened institutional scrutiny context"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Timely Warning Crime Bulletin: Sexual assault (UCSC News, February 2023)",
      "url": "https://news.ucsc.edu/2023/02/crime-bulletin/",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "UCSC police investigating rape (The Pajaronian)",
      "url": "https://pajaronian.com/uc-santa-cruz-police-investigating-rape/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "UCSC reported inaccurate crime statistics, state auditor's report finds (Lookout Santa Cruz)",
      "url": "https://lookout.co/uc-santa-cruz-reported-inaccurate-crime-statistics-state-auditors-report-finds",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "2024 Notification of republication of the Clery Act Annual Security & Fire Safety Report (UCSC News, November 2024)",
      "url": "https://news.ucsc.edu/2024/11/clery-republication.html",
      "type": "clery-asr"
    },
    {
      "title": "Clery Act: Six California Colleges and Universities Struggled to Fully Comply With Its Requirements, Report 2024-032 (California State Auditor)",
      "url": "https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2024-032/",
      "type": "other"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "sexual-assault",
    "rape",
    "incapacitation",
    "timely-warning",
    "outdoor-party",
    "public-r1",
    "uc-system",
    "stranger-suspect",
    "clery-compliance"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-03",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-17",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}