San Jose State water polo player accused of sexual assaults

SAN JOSE, Calif. – A San Jose State University water polo player temporarily suspended from campus following accusations that he sexually assaulted two women appears to have left the country, a university official said Wednesday.

The reported sexual assaults by two women at a party over Labor Day weekend follow the high-profile case of former Stanford University student athlete Brock Turner, who was convicted of attacking a woman passed out near a trash bin. The case drew national outrage over the six-month prison sentence Turner received.

In San Jose, no arrests have been made. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the case for possible charges, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The man’s name was not released.

The international student has been banned from campus and from team events during the investigation, university spokeswoman Pat Lopes Harris said.

Many students are upset the allegations were not made public sooner.

University officials say a campus alert was not sent out because the man was immediately interviewed and investigated by police and school officials after the allegations were reported.

In the case of Turner, he served half his sentence and moved back to his home state of Ohio, where he registered as a sex offender.

Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed legislation creating two laws requiring longer sentences to be served in state prison for defendants convicted of assaulting unconscious victims, ending the possibility of brief prison sentences like the one Turner received in June.

___

Information from: KNTV-TV.