LSU Police arrested 21-year-old Ronald White on Friday night in connection with an alleged sexual assault inside a study room at Spruce Hall, a campus residence hall in Baton Rouge. Investigators say White displayed a firearm during the encounter and forced the woman to perform oral sex, while White has told police the sex was consensual and denies ever having a gun. He is now being held without bond on multiple charges, including first-degree rape.
According to an arrest warrant cited by wbrz.com, campus police received a report about the alleged rape on Friday around 11:15 p.m. The alleged victim told investigators she had been visiting a friend in Spruce Hall when that friend invited a male acquaintance into the room, and the acquaintance arrived with another man later identified as White, according to the same outlet.
White then asked the woman to go with him to a study room so the other two people in the room could have some space, per the warrant. Once there, he is accused of removing a black pistol from his waistband and setting it on a nearby chair before forcing her to perform oral sex, as detailed by wdsu.com. The woman asked that LSU Police be contacted after the alleged assault.
Suspect Fled, Was Found Hiding Under a Car
Police said White ran westbound through the Spruce Hall courtyard toward West Chimes Street before officers located him hiding beneath a vehicle near the intersection of Iowa and West Chimes streets, according to lsureveille.com. Officers searched for the firearm allegedly used during the incident but never recovered it, the same report notes.
During a police interview, White acknowledged that he and the woman had entered the study room together, but he maintained the encounter was consensual and denied having a gun at all, the student newspaper reports. He was ultimately booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on charges of first-degree rape, resisting an officer, possession of marijuana and carrying a firearm or dangerous weapon on school property. WAFB reported charges of first-degree rape, resisting an officer and carrying a firearm or dangerous weapon on school property. He remains held without bond.
Earlier 2024 Firearm Threat Also Under Review
White is also a suspect in a separate incident from October 12, 2024, in which he allegedly threatened to kill a Wendy’s employee with a firearm on LSU’s campus, per the student newspaper's reporting. That investigation was suspended at the time because the employee declined to cooperate with investigators, the outlet notes, and it is unclear whether that case has been reopened.
Under Louisiana law, a conviction for first-degree rape carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment at hard labor, without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence, according to the Louisiana Legislature. Separately, state law also makes it unlawful for a student or nonstudent to carry a firearm or dangerous weapon on school property, at a school-sponsored function or within a firearm-free zone, according to the Louisiana Legislature's statute on the matter.
The investigation remains ongoing, according to wdsu.com. No additional details about White's court appearances or legal representation have been made public.
