Two University of Wisconsin-La Crosse students have been charged with sexually assaulting their roommate in their dorm room last week.
At their court appearance on Wednesday, Casey Gudis, 18, was charged with first degree sexual assault and Brayden Wienke, 19, was charged with party to first degree sexual assault, according to a criminal complaint. Both men face up to 60 years in prison if convicted.
First degree sexual assault is a felony, according to the complaint.
The assault occurred on Sept. 27 in the Sanford Hall dormitory, where the victim and the two men charged with the assault were all roommates in a triple residence hall room, according to the criminal complaint.
According to the complaint the assault sparked from an incident where the victim was throwing playing cards at Wienke while he was taking an online quiz in the same room. Wienke then asked the victim to stop and told him he was going to “jam something up his butt.”
Wienke and Gudis then left the dorm room to go to class, according to the complaint. When they returned from class Wienke pinned the victim on the ground as he was reaching for something under his bed, and Gudis assaulted him with a lint roller.
The victim went to Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center for a sexual assault exam and was found to have injuries consistent with being assaulted by an object, according to the complaint.
There were also three other people in the room when the assault took place, according to the complaint.
According to the complaint, the victim told Wienke and Gudis to stop at least twice during the assault.
Wienke told police after he heard the victim tell them to stop he let him get up, according to the complaint.
Wienke also told police since school started they had all been poking each other in the rear when someone else would bend over, according to the complaint.
The victim was picked on more than the other roommates because he was quiet, according to the complaint.
UW-La Crosse Dean of Students Paula Knudson said they are taking the incident very seriously.
“We have reached out to the victim and have offered any support we can,” Knudson said.
Knudson said they are also offering counseling and education to the whole student body after the incident.
She added the university plans on holding a session on campus to raise awareness and to educate students about issues with homophobia and same-sex assaults.
Knudson said the college population is a group that has a high risk for sexual assaults. She added they do have reports which track the number of sexual assaults on campus and they are relatively low for UW-La Crosse.
However, Knudson said it is hard to tell if the numbers of sexual assaults reported are actually accurate.
“A lot of people do not report it when it happens, so it is hard to make it more public and to show people there are problems in our society,” Knudson said.
According to Wisconsin court records, Gudis and Wienke are due back in court for their preliminary hearings on Oct. 14
