Man rearrested, faces 4 charges tied to stalking on University of Utah campus
Sep 20, 2024, 5:04 PM | Updated: 5:30 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — University of Utah police arrested a man Friday after issuing a campus-wide safety alert earlier in the week saying he had been following women into university housing. He is now facing charges of stalking, lewdness and two counts of criminal trespassing.
Oluwatobi Oludaisi Shokunbi, 34, also known as “King Rocky,” is believed to have threatened a woman at the University of Utah Hospital, according to a safety alert issued Wednesday night.
The man was arrested on a no-bail warrant and was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail Friday. A notice sent to students on Friday says Shokunbi is not allowed to return to university property, and police urged students and others on campus to remain aware and report any future sightings of Shokunbi.
U of U warns of stalker on campus who allegedly followed students into dorms
U. Police Capt. Brian Lohrke said Shokunbi was first confronted last Saturday and kicked off of the campus. Three days later on Tuesday, he was arrested by university police and was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail, but was later released from the jail. He was charged Friday in that case with criminal trespassing, a class B misdemeanor.
On Sept. 4, police say Shokunbi entered the residence of a University of Utah student and began rummaging around and asking for the victim by name. A roommate confronted the man and told him to leave. The student told police she did not know who Shokunbi was and that they had never met before, the charges state.
A week later on Sept. 11, police say Shokunbi approached the victim at a TRAX station, where she recognized him from the incident the week before. The victim said she was “unsettled” and believed he had been following her, according to the charges.’
On Sept. 14, police say Shokunbi entered a residence hall on campus where the victim was working on a project. University police officers escorted him out of the building. The charges say Shokunbi’s action caused the victim to fear for her safety and he was charged with stalking, a class A misdemeanor, stemming from incidents on those three days.
Shokunbi is also charged with criminal trespassing, a class A misdemeanor, and lewdness, a class B misdemeanor, in a separate case from Sept. 7. In that case, a woman called police saying a man, later identified as Shokunbi, entered her apartment, opened her door and said, “I’m looking for a beautiful lady,” the charges state.
The victim told him to leave, but he then allegedly entered her roommate’s room. Court documents say the roommate knew Shokunbi from work but did not know him personally. She told him to leave.
The two women said they don’t know how Shokunbi knew where they lived.
That same day, officers responded to the same apartment complex on a report of lewdness. Shokunbi was standing in the apartment’s community room “completely naked,” according to the charges. He was taken into custody by the police.
“The allegations of lewd behavior, getting naked in a public space, seemingly targeting young women, all of this in culmination gives us concern, and that’s why we argued that we were concerned about public safety not only for these individuals, but for also the community at large and we asked for a no-bail hold,” Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill told KSL TV.
Gill added that it was extremely concerning that Shokunbi’s alleged behavior of targeting the victim multiple times is alarming but commends all victims for stepping forward.
“They need to be commended for reaching out and also for law enforcement responding so that we can react to it and get this man into custody,” he said.
Lohrke said the department is working on a program to have an “embedded officer” within residential halls “mainly for communication and relationship building, but also for situations like this.”
Contributing: Shara Park, KSL TV
If you have experienced sexual violence, you can access help and resources by calling Utah’s 24-hour Sexual Violence Help Line at 1-801-736-4356 (English) or 1-801-924-0860 (Spanish). You can also call the Rape Recovery Center office line during office hours at 801-467-7282 or the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 for free, confidential counseling.
