(DAVIS, Calif.) – University of California at Davis sophomore Vicente “Vince” Alexander Medrano, 18, an aeronautical science and engineering major from Antioch, Calif., was arrested Sept. 30 and charged with burglary and attempted rape of a 22-year-old student. Medrano, who did not know the victim, allegedly entered the unlocked front door of the woman’s apartment on the 2600 block of Sycamore Lane in North Davis. While the victim slept, Medrano removed his pants and got in the victim’s bed.

Because the woman was expecting her boyfriend, she did not immediately realize Medrano was a stranger and began engaging in what Davis police will only describe as “sexual contact” with Medrano.

When the victim realized Medrano was not her boyfriend, she left the room to alert her two roommates, one male and one female, who removed Medrano from the residence.

Police located Medrano running between vehicles, while attempting to cover his bare lower body with a shirt. Officers were able to identify Medrano because he left his pants, which contained his wallet and identification, in the victim’s bedroom. He was reportedly not combative during his arrest.

Tests indicated Medrano had been drinking but police said he was alert enough to understand the consequences of his actions at the time.

Medrano posted $20,000 bail the same evening and is scheduled to appear in Yolo Superior Court later this month on felony charges of attempted rape and burglary.

Medrano’s friends said they were surprised to learn of his arrest.

“He was really easygoing and always really respectful to me,” said sophomore neurobiology, physiology and behavior major Misao Tachibana, who lived next-door to Medrano in Leach Hall in Tercero last school year. “I never heard him say a sexual joke. He never had a temper.”

Medrano did not return phone calls, instant messages or an e-mail from The Aggie by press time.

Davis Police Department spokesperson Lt. Colleen Turay said Medrano will face potential prison sentences if convicted of either charge. If he is convicted of the attempted rape charge, he may be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law for the rest of his life.

Named after seven-year-old Megan Kanka — a New Jersey girl who was raped and murdered in 1994 by a convicted sex offender who had moved in across the street — Megan’s Law requires those convicted of certain sexual crimes to register with local law enforcement and have information regarding their whereabouts posted online.

Consequences for Medrano’s actions do not stop at the criminal level, said Jeanne Wilson, director of Student Judicial Affairs at UC Davis. While she declined to comment specifically on Medrano’s case, Wilson said the consequences for students who commit sexual crimes can be severe.

“When a student is arrested, we may receive a referral from the jurisdiction in which the crime was committed,” she said. “Students can be suspended or dismissed from the entire University of California because of the threat they pose to the campus community.”

According to Turay, Medrano’s arrest follows a recent pattern of sexual assault cases in Davis.

On Sept. 25, police arrested a 36-year-old man at a Motel 6 at 4835 Chiles Rd. in South Davis and charged him with false imprisonment, violation of a restraining order, battery and assault with the intent to commit rape against his 37-year-old former girlfriend.

On Sept. 24, a woman went to a Davis hospital claiming she had been raped by an acquaintance. A suspect, who has not been arrested, is sought on charges of assault with the intent to commit rape. A third incident on Sept. 16 has also not yielded an arrest on charges of rape by force or fear by an acquaintance of a woman who had been drinking before the attack, Turay said. Turay declined to release further details, citing pending investigations into both cases.

All four incidents precede the Oct. 2 release of the Clery report, a compilation of annual campus crime statistics, which showed an increase in sex crimes and robberies and decreases in burglaries and aggravated assaults.