LSU student arrested for alleged third-degree rape; reportedly met victim on social media
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – A student at LSU was arrested for an alleged third-degree rape on LSU’s campus back in late January.
According to the arrest warrant, a report was filed last week from an incident insinuating that Michael “Sonny” Trinh, 23, raped a woman in the dorm room on campus.
Court records show Trinh was also arrested by LSUPD for charges of cyberstalking and extortion in February.
According to investigators, Trinh and the victim met through the social media app Snapchat, and began a relationship. However, investigators say after the victim tried to distance herself from Trinh, she claims he threatened to leak nude photos of her.
Investigators say Trinh went to the victim’s dorm room sometime in January and sexually assaulted her. According to the arrest warrant, the victim could not recall the exact date.
Investigators said the victim was afraid of coming forward because of the suspect’s threats to share explicit photos, and only confided in someone after Trinh’s first arrest.
LSU released the following statement Tuesday evening:
“This student has been arrested and along with going through the legal system, will also go through our student conduct process. While federal law prohibits us from sharing any findings or disciplinary actions based on that process, we want to assure our community that we take this matter very seriously and are taking all the proper steps. We are also doing everything possible to assist the survivor of this incident and are making available to her the full range of the university’s resources and support.”