US soldier in Afghanistan accused of raping Alabama student

AUBURN, Ala. – U.S. Army criminal investigators have arrested a deployed soldier accused of raping an Alabama college student last year.

Auburn, Alabama, police Capt. Lorenza Dorsey said in a news release Tuesday that 27-year-old Ryan Charles Petro of North Carolina has been charged with five counts of first-degree rape.

Investigators say he sexually assaulted a 19-year-old Auburn University student, an acquaintance of his, at a hotel. He was identified through the analysis of forensic evidence. Authorities didn’t specify what type of evidence was tested.

Petro was arrested by military investigators while deployed in Afghanistan last month. He was later turned over to North Carolina authorities and then been booked into an Alabama jail.

Auburn police and U.S. Army agents are investigating.