Wisconsin college student charged with multiple sexual assaults

By Rory Carroll

(Reuters) - Wisconsin prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against a University of Wisconsin-Madison student on Thursday, accusing him of sexually assaulting at least six women since early 2015.

Alec Cook, 20, of Edina, Minnesota, faces a total of 11 counts of sexual assault, two counts of strangulation and suffocation, and two counts of false imprisonment.

Since news of his arrest broke, police in an affidavit said dozens of women have come forward with information about Cook, according to local television station ABC 27 WKOW.

Cook's attorney did not respond to requests for comment.

WKOW reported his attorney as saying that Cook, who is in jail, had no criminal record. Cook has been suspended from the university and is prohibited from being on campus.

Campus sexual assault has become a hot topic after former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner sexually assaulted an unconscious woman and received a six-month jail sentence. Prosecutors had sought six years.

The first complaint against Cook stems from an Oct. 12 meeting with a female student identified as JAS, who said that after they studied in a campus library, she went with Cook to his apartment where he aggressively kissed her before having what JAS described as non-consensual intercourse. She told police Cook choked and slapped her face against her will.

The encounter left the woman with tearing in her vagina, patches of irritated skin on her scalp where her hair was torn out, and scratches on her arms, according to the complaint.

Another woman identified as MBG told police that Cook sexually assaulted her and that she was not physically strong enough to stop him. After that incident, Cook stalked her, she told police.

Another student, identified as NSN, told police that Cook would grab her breasts and buttocks inappropriately whenever they were paired in their ballroom dance class. Another student from the same class reported similar behavior to police.

According to ABC 27 WKOW, court records show a black leather book seized by police from Cook's apartment last week lists women's names.

"Each entry showed how he met the female, and what he liked about them. Further entries went on to document what he wanted to do with the females," the affidavit stated, according to WKOW.

"Disturbingly enough there were statements of 'kill' and statements of 'sexual' desires," according to the affidavit.

Cook's attorney said the notebook entries can be interpreted in many different ways, according to WKOW.

(Reporting by Rory Carroll in San Francisco; Editing by Bernard Orr)