"We hope to close the case within the next week or so," Poarch said in an interview Wednesday.
On March 22, an 18-year-old female student reported that she was assaulted while walking alone about 2:30 a.m. Feb. 27 from Franklin Street to her residence hall. The student reported that she was forced to the ground by her assailant near Alumni Hall and that she then blacked out.
Police said the student was a victim of a sexual assault, although Poarch did not describe the incident as a rape.
The announcement of a possible arrest is the first statement from police since the assault was reported nearly a month ago.
Poarch said two other recent assaults on campus -- an armed robbery that occurred near Coker Arboretum and a misdemeanor assault that took place in the Morehead Planetarium parking lot -- are still under investigation.
Shortly after 9 p.m. Jan. 19, a male and female student were robbed at gunpoint near Coker Arboretum. Two suspects took an unknown amount of money and then fled on foot.
Two months later, a 21-year-old female student reported that she was the victim of a misdemeanor assault while working in the Morehead Parking Lot on March 20. Police said the incident involved a man who inappropriately touched the victim. "The incidents are under investigation. We have better leads in some than others," Poarch said.
"We are progressing on the sexual assault more quickly than others."
Poarch said there was a flood of calls with information following the Coker Arboretum robbery but that no leads panned out. "That case is actively still being investigated," Poarch said.
