Five Arrested After Barnard Resident Assaulted
BY ALYSON DAME

At 1:45 a.m. on March 17, a Barnard resident was assaulted by two masked strangers. Senior Ryan Catignani, sophomore Nicholas Walker, senior Richard Kocher and Markeith Reed were arrested on March 26 after interviews and OCID record logs

(photo by Areca Treon)

obtained from Security were collected by the Oberlin Police Department. When asked by police what might have motivated the attack, “The victim mentioned he’d written an article in the paper about Zechiel,” Oberlin Chief of Police Michael Moorman said.
According to a police statement in which the victim is interviewed, the victim was sleeping at 1:45 a.m. when he was awakened by a knock. The victim reported that two men entered the room. One stood by the door, and another began to attack him. The attacker did not speak to him during the assualt, and “grabbed at his face and scratched him.” In a follow-up interview, the victim stated that one subject punched him five times in the face before the other subject pushed him into the wall. The victim reported he was able to get to his feet and call for help, and that the subjects fled. According to the police report, the phone was disconnected. 
Senior Rebecca Adelman heard a male scream “Help! Who are you?” and called security. Adelman was asleep when she and her visiting friend woke up to the screams for help. A police report filed March 17 states that Oberlin Security received a call from Adelman at 1:49 a.m. “It sounded like there was a struggle, and there were people in the hallway. I called Security and I said I couldn’t tell where the sound was coming from,” Adelman said. 
Director of Safety and Security Robert Jones said, “The call came from Rebecca, she was not sure where screams were coming from at first. They went out and combed the area and couldn’t find anything.”
Later, Adelman’s guest decided the sound must have come from the neighboring room. “I called Security back, I kind of felt it was something they should look into,” Adelman said. The officers at the scene were told the new information and, “They went back to investigate it and made contact with the victim,” Jones said. 
Oberlin Police Officer Steve Chapman “requested the entry card reader logs from Barnard and Zechiel Hall,” between midnight and 2:30 a.m. March 17, according to a report filed by Chapman. According to the same report, Kocher’s OCID was used to enter Barnard at 1:42 a.m. March 17.
During an interview with police at 1 p.m. March 17, Kocher filed a report that his OCID was missing after the assault, and told Security that it had been missing since Thursday, March 15, according to Jones. On March 22, Kocher was arrested for aggravated burglary and assault. A charge of obstructing justice was later added. 
Walker was arrested and charged with complicity to aggravated burglary and complicity to assault. According to the police report, “Walker stated that there were comments made by numerous individuals regarding the dislike for the victim and the articles he had written, in particular the football players were begrudged by the articles.” 
The police reports states that Walker said that he witnessed Catignani state that the victim “needed to have his ‘ass kicked’,” on the night of March 16 in Catignani’s room in Zechiel Hall. Catignani was arrested for aggravated burglary and assault. He was interviewed by police on March 26. According to the police report, “Catignani said that he and others were having ongoing discussions concerning the article written by [the victim].” In the same interview, Catignani admitted donning a mask and entering the victim’s room but “Catignani said he was kicked in the chest by [the victim] and fled the room after realizing how frightened [the victim] was.” According to the police report, Catignani maintained he had ‘no intention whatsoever of assaulting the victim,’ and could not explain injuries to the victim or why his phone was disconnected.
Catignani, Kocher and Walker declined to comment.
Markeith Reed, a part-time employee at the bowling alley and former College student, was arrested for complicity to aggravated burglary and complicity to assualt. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. When I found out bad things were happening, I left immediatly,” Reed said, adding, “The guys said they were going somewhere, I just kind of tagged along.” In an interview with Oberlin police on March 28, Reed stated that he had gone to Catignani’s dorm room and “he decided to leave Room 221 with Richard Kocher, Ryan Catignani and Nicholas Walker,” the police report said. 
Reed continues to work at Hales’ College Lanes. “We determined his continued employment at the bowling alley does not pose any threat to members of the community and consequently it seemed inappropriate to take any kind of action at this time,” Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith said.
The victim writes weekly humor columns for The Grape, and his last column was titled “Don’t Call It A Surprise When The Bullets Fly.” The victim discussed the recent patterns of school shootings and compared athletes at this campus to the misfits at other schools. He wrote, “If the Oberlin community begins to open its eyes to the tragic plight of the athletes, then we might be able to avoid disaster, but chances are, it won’t,” and concluded, “don’t worry too much. Chances are when the shooting starts, then just like on the opposing football teams who face the Oberlin College Football Crimson Fighting Yeomen, no one will actually get hit. This just in, [the victim’s] name has moved to the top of the ‘to shoot’ list.”
Jones said he does not think that the incident puts the College in danger of additional attacks. “It appears to be a singular incident to me. It’s not just people going around attacking people randomly,” he said. 
Moorman also thought that this was a planned attack on a specific person. “They planned to do this, they had masks on,” Moorman said.
Assistant Dean of Students Bill Stackman has sent letters to two students summoning them to Judicial Board. “We need to gather information and feel that we have enough evidence,” Stackman said. Stackman was not willing to predict what the J-Board would decide, and said, “I have no idea what the sanctions will be.” 
College President Nancy Dye and Goldsmith wrote a letter to the Review expressing their concern about the incident. “Obviously, it’s very disturbing to think of a student attacked while asleep in the residence hall room and we will always take a behavior like that very, very seriously,” Goldsmith said. 
Stackman said, “We’re certainly taking this very seriously and would like to have this issue addressed as soon as possible.”
Adelman was upset with how the administration handled the issue. After making the call, “I didn’t really know what was going on until I got an e-mail [April 3] from Bill Stackman,” she said. The e-mail was to the alleged attackers but Adelman was on a list that received a carbon copy. “They know that I’m the person that called Security, and that makes me uncomfortable.”
A press release from OPD released March 26 states, “The incident is still under investigation due to possible involvement of others in misleading the Police Department during the investigation.” On April 3, senior Stacey Beck was arrested for falsification after she provided an alibi for Catignani, Kocher, Walker and Reed. According to a police report, Beck said that all four were in Zeke between 1:30 and 2 a.m. on March 17. 
“There were several individuals that gave us inaccurate information,” Moorman said, adding, “It’s one thing to say ‘I don’t know anything about it,’ but there’s a difference between that and misleading the police.” Moorman said that the investigation may still continue, but that the county prosecutor would make that decision. “This isn’t a super-serious incident compared to everything else the county prosecutor gets, but on the other hand it wasn’t a prank,” Moorman said.