After a sex-assault suspect was found to be a CSU employee with access to personnel information, the university will begin doing background checks on all campus hires, a spokesman said Wednesday.
The suspect in two Fort Collins sexual assaults of 21-year-old women worked for Colorado State University’s human resources department, where he had access to personnel information about college employees.
Fort Collins police arrested Samuel Kase White, 30, on investigation of sexual assault and burglary in the two incidents Sept. 28.
“He did have access to personnel information,” CSU spokesman Brad Bohlander said.
The university is seeking information about the two victims to find out whether they worked for CSU and whether White accessed information about them at school, Bohlander said.
“We don’t yet have information about the identities of the victims,” he said. “We’re trying to find out ourselves. We will cooperate in any fashion with this investigation.”
Banned from campus
White was hired as a personnel assistant at CSU on April 19, he said. He was also a student, taking one upper-level business class.
The university has banned White from the campus and placed him on administrative leave from his job, Bohlander said.
“We’ve essentially cut off all his access to the campus,” he said.
White did not receive a criminal background check when he was hired, Bohlander said. The university, which performs the checks only on employees in sensitive positions like child-care supervision, will soon do background checks on all campus employees, he said.
He was arrested at his home on East Drake Road without incident about 9:30 p.m. Monday, said Rita Davis, Fort Collins police spokeswoman. He is being held at the Larimer County Detention Facility, she said.
On Sept. 28 at a home in the 1100 block of Westward Drive, a man sexually assaulted a 21-year-old woman as she slept. When she awoke about 4 a.m. and confronted him, he ran out the front door, Davis said.
A short time later, in the 1800 block of Broadview Place between 4 and 5 a.m., a 21-year-old woman awoke to find a man tugging on her pants. She yelled, and he fled, Davis said.
Window-peeping arrests
White was previously arrested Dec. 2 on counts of trespassing and harassment after allegedly window-peeping at a residence on East Laurel Street, Davis said. He also had been arrested Sept. 8 in a window-peeping incident on East Plum Street.
Colorado Bureau of Investigation records show no arrests before the first September incident.
Bohlander said the university did not know about this previous arrest. He said he needs to learn more about the circumstances before he could comment further.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
