SSU police arrest suspect for alleged rape in university housing

Sonoma State University police arrested a 21-year-old student Wednesday on suspicion of committing a rape in December.

Patrick James O’Regan turned himself in at the Sonoma County criminal courts complex, after police issued a warrant for his arrest, university spokesman Paul Gullixson said.

University police received a report of a rape at about 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 8, according to a prepared statement SSU released Wednesday. The reported rape occurred late on the night of Dec. 7 in a university housing complex, according to the statement.

Gullixson declined to provide further details of the alleged rape. He would not say whether the victim was an SSU student.

“Other than what’s in the news release. … I can’t add anything,” Gullixson said. “I can tell you that this was a thorough investigation by the university police department for more than four months.”

Gullixson said the university did not issue what’s called a “timely warning” when the incident was reported in December. Such a warning is a federally required notification to the entire campus community in a situation when campus authorities determine there is an ongoing danger to the student body.

“It did not warrant a timely warning, so no information was sent out,” Gullixson said. “Timely warnings are called for in situations when there is a clear and present concern about danger to the campus, and this did not rise to that level.”

Court records show O’Regan was previously charged in November with one count of disorderly conduct and one count of public urination. He pleaded no contest to the disorderly conduct charge and the public urination charge was dismissed. O’Regan was sentenced in January to ?36 months of probation.

Jail records on Wednesday show that O’Regan is not currently in custody in Sonoma County, while court records show he has not yet been charged with the alleged rape.

You can reach Staff Writer Andrew Beale at 707-521-5205 or andrew.beale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @iambeale.