UPDATE: The criminal case against Ara was dismissed without prejudice by the Maricopa County Superior Court on December 10.
A student at Grand Canyon University (GCU), allowed into the United States on a student visa, has been charged with sexual assault and burglary stemming from a Saturday evening encounter with a female student in her dorm room.
“Police said Gabriel Teixeria Lima Ara, 21, was hanging out with a small group of people inside a dorm room at GCU on Saturday evening,” according to KNXV.
Court documents said that one of the women in the group went to sleep around 9:30 p.m., and woke up hours later to Ara allegedly having sex with her.
One of the victim’s roommates, responding to the commotion inside the victim’s bedroom, entered the room where the victim accused Ara of raping her. Ara allegedly denied the rape before running away.
Ara was later apprehended by GCU police, and officially charged with suspicion of burglary and sexual assault.
GCU released a statement after the incident:
While we cannot comment on an active criminal or Title IX investigation nor share student information that is protected by federal privacy laws, we take seriously any report of sexual violence. Student safety is our utmost priority and we are fortunate that there are very few cases of sexual assault on campus. GCU has a highly trained police force on campus and works in conjunction with Phoenix Police on such incidents and will fully comply with its Title IX policies as outlined here.
The United States doles out 300,000 F-1 student visas per year. The vast majority of the recipients – nearly 100,000 per year – are from China.
But recipients of student visas come from all over the world, like Fiston Ngoy of Congo, who was arrested in October for the brutal rape of a woman on a train in Philadelphia.
Ngoy originally came to the United States on a student visa, which he overstayed. His visa status was revoked in 2015 when he was no longer enrolled in school, but he remained in the United States illegally.
Despite a criminal record that included misdemeanor convictions for drugs and sexual abuse, and the known fact that he was residing in the United States illegally, he was never deported.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Grand Canyon University” by GrandCanyonU CC BY-SA 3.0.
