Just days before the fall semester ended, Madison police arrested Antonio L. Pope for the two campus sexual assaults that took place only weeks earlier.
The criminal complaint filed against Pope details the charges against him in the Nov. 29 and Dec. 9 sexual assaults.
In the Nov. 29 case, the complaint states that at about 8 p.m., he abducted a UW-Madison female who had just missed the bus and was walking to her dorm along Observatory Drive. The complaint said Pope had a ""large, serrated knife"" and held it to the victim's throat.
From there, the complaint continues, the female was forced to lie down on a fully reclined passenger seat of a car. Then, Pope tied the girl's hands together, zipped up a jacket on her, which covered her face and turned her on her stomach.
After a short car ride, Pope took the victim inside and sexually assaulted her, according to the complaint.
The account of the Dec. 9 case that began on the 500 block of Carroll Street had many similarities to the earlier assault.
The complaint alleges that at about 3 a.m. Pope kidnapped another UW-Madison female. The victim was talking on her phone when Pope approached her with a knife. He told her to hang up and not to scream.
The victim screamed, but Pope covered her mouth with his hand and led her to a car, where she too was tied up and laid face down with her head covered by a large, zipped up coat, according to the complaint. The woman was taken to an apartment, which police determined was located in Fitchburg, a Madison suburb. Once Pope got the victim inside the apartment, he sexually assaulted her.
In both cases, Pope returned the victims to the areas where he had abducted them.
Shortly after being questioned, the complaint reported that Pope spoke to a person he acknowledged as his girlfriend and told her, ""I'm going to jail. I raped two girls ... the girls they talked about in the newspapers, by the campus, I'm sorry.""
Public Information Officer Mike Hanson said the city of Madison and UW-Madison police departments worked together to apprehend Pope.
Hanson said that apprehending Pope is only the first step toward justice, especially for the victims.
UW-Madison police Sgt. Benjamin Newman said the DNA samples were made the first priority in the labs in order to find the criminal as soon as possible. The results showed a match to Pope and police acted swiftly and located him only six days after the second sexual assault.
Yet, police are quick to remind people about the concern that the assaults caused in and around the campus. Hanson said the events that took place were unpredictable and could happen again.
""No one can let their guard down,"" he said.
