A 19-year-old from New Jersey was jailed on rape and related charges, according to court records identifying him as a Moravian University student at the time of the alleged incident.
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania police said they were contacted last June 15 about the alleged sexual assault on April 2 in a residence hall on Moravian’s campus in the city.
Derek J. Caceres, of Woodland Park, allegedly was “hanging out” in the dormitory with other students and the alleged victim between about 2 and 2:30 a.m. when the two went to his room at about 3:15-3:20 a.m., according to court records.
Caceres and the person “were consensually kissing when he asked her if they could have sex,” investigators wrote in the court records. Told, “No,” Caceres allegedly “responded by grabbing her neck with bodily force, which impeded her breathing,” then raped her while “strangling the victim,” police wrote.
She was unable to escape, and Caceres immediately apologized after the sexual assault, according to police.
The alleged victim sought medical treatment April 2 at a St. Luke’s University Health Network hospital, where staff documented “pain and visible injuries to her neck” and completed a sexual assault examination kit, police wrote. The kit was submitted to Bethlehem police the following day.
“Medical reports indicated that the visible injuries with bruising to her neck are ‘consistent with the distribution of strangulation injury,’” the court records state. “It was documented that the victim’s voice was heard being ‘hoarse’ while speaking to medical staff.”
Caceres was arraigned Friday on felony counts of rape, sexual assault and strangulation, in addition to misdemeanor indecent assault and simple assault.
He was sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $500,000 bail and has a preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled March 12 where a district judge will be asked to determine if there is sufficient evidence to send the charges toward trial in the county court of common pleas.
Moravian spokesman Michael Corr on Friday provided a statement to lehighvalleylive.com on the allegations, saying: “Moravian University is aware of the incident...and has been cooperating fully with the investigation. The defendant is no longer a member of the University community and is barred from campus.
“Our administration and staff take reports of sexual assault very seriously and follow University policies and federal laws when responding to such reports. Moravian provides appropriate support measures and resources to those impacted by sexual assault.”
Court records were not immediately updated with an attorney for Caceres.
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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
