Student arrested on alleged assault

Student+arrested+on+alleged+assault

John Riedel, Staff Writer

This story was updated Sept. 28, 2018 at 12:45 p.m. to redact the name of the victim.

 

UVM police services arrested a student Oct. 31 for allegedly threatening his roommate with a butane torch, according to an affidavit obtained by the Cynic.

A first-year told UVM police that the night of Oct. 29 his roommate, first-year Connor Ferreira, held the torch up to his face, challenged him to a fight and prevented him from leaving their room, according to the Oct. 31 affidavit.

Both Ferreira and his roommate declined to comment. UVM police services received an Oct. 31 email sent by Assistant Dean of Students for Retention Nicholas Negrete after a student told him about being physically assaulted by his roommate, according to the affidavit.

“In terms of police involvement, UVM police are always notified anytime we have reason to believe a student’s safety may be at risk in order to provide an accurate and appropriate safety assessment,” Negrete said in a Nov. 16 email to the Cynic.

Shortly after, Sgt. Mary Seller made contact with the victim to meet with her and Sgt. Jim Phelps, according to the affidavit.

Police services met with Ferreira in his room Oct. 31. Seller asked Ferreira about his relationship with the victim, according to the affidavit.

Ferreira said his roommate was “immature” for his age and that they got along, according to the affidavit. He expressed they have had altercations, but nothing major.

Ferreira told police that he held his butane lighter to his roommate’s face “to mess with [his] head,” according to the affidavit.

Sgt. Seller told Ferreira that they were told that he had placed his butane lighter up to his face to “fuck with him,” according to the affidavit.

Ferreira was released from custody Nov. 4 on $10,000 bail, according to the case docket sheet.

Negrete could not speak about specific cases involving students, he said in the Nov. 16 email.