A Duke student in the School of Medicine was arrested by the Durham Police Department on a second-degree rape charge Saturday, University officials confirmed Sunday.
Mohamad Halawi, a 23-year-old originally from Lebanon, was arrested Saturday morning and released on a $50,000 bond that afternoon, officials said.
"I know there was an allegation made by another person of a sexual assault, and he was brought down to the magistrate's office, and it thought there was enough to justify the charge," said John Burness, senior vice president for government affairs and public relations.
The Durham Herald-Sun reported Saturday that the alleged victim was a 23-year-old woman. David Jarmul, Duke's associate vice president of news and communications, said the University has received no additional information about the identity of the woman.
"The alleged incident occurred the evening of [April] 19th, and Duke was notified about it the next day," Jarmul said. "Since then, Duke has been cooperating and working closely with the Durham Police Department."
Magistrate Eric Van Vleet told The Herald-Sun that he had no information regarding Halawi's past and found no evidence of a prior criminal record.
Van Vleet said the punishment for second-degree rape could be up to 199 months of incarceration.
Police and Duke University Medical Center officials could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Burness said an interim suspension is normally imposed when a student is involved in an ongoing investigation.
He added, however, that the University cannot talk about individual instances.
"We're not able to talk about the status of an individual student," Jarmul said. "Typically, in this situation, where a Duke student is charged with a violent felony, they would be placed on interim suspension [and] it [would] last until more information becomes available about the situation."
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