Despite attendance being down for the first fall Number Fest, the Ohio Investigative Unit issued more citations at 10Fest than in the spring’s 9Fest, and a student reported an alleged attempted sexual assault.
“We catch people (abusing alcohol and substances) by having undercovers mingle in the crowd,” said Julie Hinds, spokesperson for the Ohio Investigative Unit.
The unit issued 124 citations for underage drinking, underage possession of alcohol and possession of illegal substances, Hinds said. The number of citations increased from 111 at May’s 9Fest and 76 at last year’s 8Fest, according to a previous Post article.
In addition to the investigative-unit arrests, the Athens County Sheriff’s Office handled a report of an attempted sexual assault.
An 18-year-old female Ohio University student told deputies that a man attempted to sexually assault her while she was urinating in the woods at about 7 p.m., according to a post on Sheriff Pat Kelly’s Facebook page.
Kelly could not be reached for comment.
The woman reported that the man grabbed her pants and tried to pull them off. She punched and kicked the man for about 20 minutes until he gave up, according to the post. Sheriff deputies took fingernail scrapings, which have been sent to the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation for DNA testing.
The man is described as being about 6 feet tall and 200 pounds with a buzzed haircut and brown eyes. He was wearing jeans and a cut-off T-shirt, according to the post.
The Athens County EMS also transported more people than at 9Fest.
“We treated 40 patients and transported 13,” said Rick Callebs, Chief of the Athens County EMS. “The 40 people we saw had a lot of typical cuts and blisters. Out of the people transported, everybody had been drinking.”
Callebs said that only 11 people were transported at 9Fest, but 78 were treated by first aid.
–Diana Weibe and Kelly Fisher contributed to this report.
ml147009@ohiou.edu
