Madison police arrested convicted felon Steven Lopez-Ruiz, 24, early Sunday morning for the sexual assault and battery of a UW-Madison student at the Saxony Apartments, 305 N. Frances St., earlier this weekend.
According to police, the female victim was walking home from a State Street bar at approximately 3 a.m. Friday with a friend, when the two split up to go to their respective homes. The victim then walked alone to the Saxony Apartments where Lopez-Ruiz choked and punched her as she went inside.
The victim was able to fight off the attack, police said, but still suffered a 2nd degree sexual assault and had her purse stolen.
There are four degrees of sexual assault, ranging from unwanted touching to forced intercourse, which qualifies as a first degree offense.
According to the Madison Police Department Public Information Officer Mike Hanson, at approximately 3 a.m. Sunday morning, an astute officer\ noticed Lopez-Ruiz on State Street, working off of a description provided to police by the victim. After a brief conversation, the officer arrested Lopez-Ruiz.
Lopez-Ruiz has a criminal record dating to 1998 and was out on parole after convictions for forgery, possession of cocaine, bail jumping and several other crimes at the time of the assault. He is from Madison.
Lt. Pat Malloy said detectives were on the lookout for Lopez-Ruiz throughout the weekend and received several briefings about his description and demeanor. Hanson also said police were on high alert.
""These allegations are very serious,"" Hanson said. ""He was considered very dangerous.""
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, represents the area of the city where the assault occurred. He said sexual assaults are rare in the area but stressed that they are still a problem.
""Luckily, these sorts of stranger sexual assaults are few and far between,"" Verveer said. ""But one is one too many.""
He added that female students coming out of bars late at night on weekends are often vulnerable to attack.
""There are a lot more people walking around in the late night hours in downtown Madison than there are in any other parts of the city,"" Verveer said. ""There are a lot of targets for people that are up to no good.""
According to Verveer, many sexual assault cases are never solved, with suspects often released because of insufficient evidence.
Hanson said violent stranger sexual assaults like the one that occurred Friday are rare, but added that sexual assaults in general are fairly frequent in Madison.
""It's not uncommon,"" Hanson said. ""And what we don't know is the number that go unreported.""
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