A 19-year-old man accused of raping an unconscious woman inside Cal State San Marcos housing pleaded not guilty to three felony charges at a Vista courthouse arraignment on Monday. Brandon Reylando Roldan remains free on a $100,000 bond and is barred from contacting the alleged victim as the case heads toward a preliminary readiness hearing on Nov. 10.
Roldan was arrested by Cal State San Marcos police on Oct. 27, according to The Coast News. He is charged with rape of an unconscious person, sexual penetration of an unconscious person, and oral copulation of an unconscious person. Prosecutors allege he had sex with a woman while knowing she was unconscious, with charging documents placing the incident on the night of Jan. 31 or in the early hours of Feb. 1.
CSUSM police logs indicate the alleged crime was reported in on-campus housing, the outlet's reporting states. A court order now prohibits Roldan from having any contact with the woman, a restriction confirmed in a statement from the District Attorney's Office.
Case Separate From September Campus Rape Reports
Roldan's arrest followed a tense stretch at CSUSM, where four rapes were reported in campus housing facilities over just a few weeks earlier in the fall semester. A university spokesperson said the arrest was unrelated to those four reports, which were tied to incidents on Sept. 5 and Sept. 18 at The Quad, Sept. 6 at University Village Apartments, and Sept. 13 at Black Oak Hall, according to the same Coast News account of the arrest.
The spokesperson said investigators were looking into a different suspect in each of the four cases and that every person reporting a rape knew the alleged perpetrator. An earlier report also noted that police and university officials had not immediately confirmed whether Roldan had any current or past enrollment at CSUSM.
University Response to a String of Reports
The wave of reports last September also included a fifth, separate incident in which a student said an unknown male entered her Black Oak Hall room and fondled her, as reported by NBC San Diego. CSUSM President Ellen J. Neufeldt responded to the combined reports of four rapes and the dorm-room fondling by announcing stepped-up campus security, according to a separate Coast News report on her announcement.
Neufeldt said the university would expand sexual-assault prevention efforts, including bystander intervention training, on top of the security changes. Those changes, detailed by the San Diego Union-Tribune, included increased university police patrols in and around residential areas, added overnight security in some spots, and new guest-registration requirements at front desks in North Commons and Black Oak Hall.
What Comes Next
With Roldan's not-guilty plea entered, the case now moves toward the Nov. 10 preliminary readiness hearing, where the next steps in prosecuting the three felony counts will be set. Until then, Roldan remains out on bond under the no-contact order tied to the victim.
