Man charged in sexual assault of woman sleeping inside apartment near UW-Madison campus
MADISON, Wis. — A 19-year-old man faces four felony charges after allegedly breaking into an apartment near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus last week and sexually assaulting a sleeping woman.
Madison police officers arrested Safwan Takar, of Madison, Saturday evening without incident, the city’s police department said Tuesday afternoon. Online court records show he has been charged with attempted second-degree sexual assault of an unconscious victim, burglary with a person present and two counts of bail jumping.
According to police, Takar removed the screen from the window of an apartment building in the area of North Park Street and Fahrenbrook Court around 4 a.m. on Oct. 2 and then went into the victim’s apartment through the unlocked window. The woman reportedly woke up to being sexually assaulted.
A criminal complaint filed Tuesday said after waking up, the woman pointed her phone’s flashlight at the man and told him to leave, which he did.
RELATED: MPD: Victim woke up to being sexually assaulted near UW campus
The complaint alleges surveillance video showed Takar trying to open the apartment door without success around 3:51 a.m. The video also showed him leaving the building at 4:22 a.m. and then returning and trying to get back in about half an hour later.
The victim later noticed her fanny pack with a number of items, including her IDs, wallet and money, was missing; the complaint said a man reached out to the victim after finding it in a storm drain.
During an initial appearance Tuesday afternoon, the court set Takar’s cash bond at $15,000 per case. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next Tuesday afternoon, court records show.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Takar was being held in the Dane County Jail, according to jail records.
Police have reported three sexual assaults near the UW campus in recent weeks.
In the most recent case, police said a person entered multiple unlocked apartments in the 400 block of West Gorham Street on Sunday and sexually assaulted a person. Two weeks ago, a woman reported being sexually assaulted while walking near the intersection of North Bassett and West Mifflin streets.
Charges in separate sexual assault over summer
Court records show Takar is also charged with second-degree sexual assault and bail jumping in another case near campus in early June.
According to a criminal complaint in that case, Takar met the victim at a campus-area bar and offered to give her a ride home. He drove them to an alley on Langdon Street, at which point the woman got out and said she would walk the rest of the way.
Takar then got out of the vehicle, grabbed her, put his hand over her mouth and sexually assaulted her, the complaint alleges.
RELATED: Police investigating reported sexual assault near UW-Madison campus
He made an initial court appearance in the case on June 23, according to online records. During that appearance, his bond was set at $5,000 cash. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
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