LSC Student Accused of Sexual Assault

A March 5 court date has been set for a Lyndon State College student accused of sexually assaulting a New Hampshire woman, last year, on the LSC campus.

Taylor Burke, 20, from Bennington, Vt., was "cited and released" earlier this week, the Vermont State Police said. He is scheduled to appear in Caledonia Superior Court.

AJ Raskin, a junior Music Business major, said he did not see the grounds for the citation against Burke.

 "I really don't know what happened. I think it's just all hearsay and rumors. All I know is he is a great guy, a great friend and I'm sure this is all going to blow over," said Raskin.

In a text message, Jake Machell, a junior Music business major had a similar response.

"He's a great kid. Anyone who knows him would say the same," said Machell.

The identity of the alleged victim has not been released. The incident is being referred to as "an acquaintance sexual assault."

The state police began an investigation on March 27 and the college sent out a community notice about the incident April 14. LSC spokesman, Bob Whittaker, could not provide any specific information about the investigation.

"I have not had a chance to talk with [George Hacking] to get updated and reminded about the occurrences and details of last year," said Whittaker.

Whittaker stated that the college worked with the Vermont State Police to investigate the incident.

"We learned of the incident through the Vermont State Police. The victim went right to the state police to report it," said Whittaker. "We cooperated with them once we learned of it. They took the investigation right from the start. We sent a community notice out to make sure people were alerted that something had occurred."

Jonathan Davis, Associate Dean of Student Affairs, and George Hacking, Director of Public Safety, declined comment, referring any questions to Bob Whittaker.

Special Investigation Unit Detective, Russell Finn, was not available for comment.

Burke was unresponsive to the Critic's multiple attempts to reach him for comment.