Following his arrest Monday evening, University of Wisconsin senior Alec Cook was released Wednesday on a $500 signature bond.
Cook is currently facing four counts of second degree sexual assault, three counts of battery and one count of strangulation and false imprisonment.
According to a Madison Police Department incident report, the victim said Cook sexually assaulted her and did not let her leave his apartment on the 500 block of North Henry street the night of Oct. 12.
According to the criminal complaint, around 7:30 p.m., the victim had dinner with Cook and then went to College Library to study with him. At 11:30 p.m., they left the library and went to Cook’s apartment.
In the complaint, she told police that she disclosed to Cook that she didn’t want casual sex, but a longer-term relationship. Cook agreed to not do anything she felt uncomfortable with.
Later in the evening, however, Cook became more forceful, the complaint said. She told him to stop several times, after which he forcefully assaulted her repeatedly and would not let her leave.
The victim later told her brother over text that she could not reach her phone or get to the door because Cook held her in a “death grip,” the complaint said.
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In the complaint, the victim said she told her brother, “I don’t feel like I was assaulted…I don’t think. But I feel very weird.”
After texting Cook later that evening that she didn’t want to see him anymore, he responded by saying he wanted a second date.
She contacted police four days later, and Cook was arrested within a week.
Cook’s attorney, Christopher Van Wagner, told the Wisconsin State Journal everything that happened was consensual.
At the moment, the Madison Police Department has a “very active” and ongoing investigation into the matter, MPD spokesperson Joel DeSpain said.
“The detectives working the case are getting a lot of new information coming in,” DeSpain said.
While DeSpain said MPD is not in a position to release any new information, he added the detectives are appreciative for those contacting the department and encourage others to do so as well.
DeSpain said MPD is not ready to identify where the information they have received has come from.
In an email to The Badger Herald, UW spokesperson Meredith McGlone said UW is committed to preventing sexual violence.
Due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, however, McGlone said the university cannot comment on specific cases and can not discuss pending disciplinary actions against individual students.
“We can say, generally, when a student is arrested on criminal charges, we work very closely with law enforcement, both UWPD and MPD,” McGlone said.
Since the Dean of Students Office and Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards finds out quickly when a student is arrested, McGlone said they can activate their own non-academic misconduct processes and take whatever actions are appropriate.
The university has not commented on whether or not they will expel Cook.
McGlone said the university will review all appropriate steps under campus policies and under Wisconsin State Legislature Chapter 17, which includes emergency suspension where warranted, to protect the safety of individual students and the campus community and to hold responsible individuals accountable.
Cook is prohibited from being on any UW property while the investigation against him proceeds, according to court records.
Cook has a court date set for Nov. 7 at the Dane County Circuit Court.
Anyone with additional information is urged to contact Madison Area Crime Stoppers at (608) 266-6014.
