A 21-year-old Richmond man is set to appear in court this week on a first-degree sexual abuse charge after court documents say he sexually abused a woman while she was asleep in her bed at a University of Kentucky dormitory. Barak Steelmon was arrested Aug. 31 in Richmond, more than eight months after the alleged incident occurred, and he posted a $20,000 bond and was released the following day.
According to court documents cited by Lexington Herald-Leader, the alleged abuse happened at Lewis Hall on the university's campus. The woman reported the incident to University of Kentucky police shortly after it happened, and investigators later spoke with Steelmon about what occurred. Court documents state that Steelmon admitted he knew he did not have consent for sexual contact, and that the woman had explicitly and verbally expressed a lack of consent following an earlier encounter with him that same evening.
University of Kentucky police investigated the case before Steelmon's arrest in Richmond, per court documents. He was scheduled to be arraigned Monday afternoon in Fayette District Court. While his case is pending, Steelmon is barred from contacting the alleged victim and must attend every scheduled court appearance to remain out of custody.
A Pattern of Dorm Assault Cases at UK
This is not the first reported case of sexual assault inside a University of Kentucky residence hall in recent years. In March 2025, two freshmen, Angus Thompson and Addison Adkins, both 18, were arrested on rape-related charges stemming from an incident reported in Ball Hall, according to the Kentucky Kernel. That incident occurred the evening of Feb. 18, 2025, and was reported to UK Police four days later; both defendants pleaded not guilty, posted $25,000 bonds and were ordered to stay away from campus and the victim.
A former UK student later filed a federal lawsuit alleging she was raped by two male students in the Ball Hall dormitory that same night, according to LEX 18. The lawsuit states the two men “took advantage of Plaintiff's inebriated state by sexually assaulting and raping her.” That outlet also reported that the criminal charges against the two students were dismissed by a grand jury on Feb. 9.
Campus Safety Context
The University of Kentucky's 2025 crime and safety report concerns campus crime and safety, per the Herald-Leader's reporting.
UK Police Chief Joe Monroe cautioned against reading too much into a single year of improvement. “While any reduction is very encouraging, we have to think about the fact that it doesn't tell the complete story,” Monroe said, according to the same report. Monroe said his department looks at the last three years of data together, which shows 2023 and 2025 numbers were mostly similar, with 2024 standing out as a spike year.
The University of Kentucky did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Steelmon case.
