U of U warns of stalker on campus who allegedly followed students into dorms
Sep 19, 2024, 8:32 AM | Updated: 6:17 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Utah Police issued a safety warning Wednesday after they said a man was stalking students on campus and around the downtown Salt Lake City area.
Oluwatobi Shokunbi, 34, also known as “King Rocky,” is banned from the University of Utah campus. Police said he has followed students into university housing and also threatened a woman at the University of Utah Hospital.
According to the warning, he was last seen at Kahlert Village, the University’s largest student housing community where more than 1,000 first-year students live.
In a press conference on Thursday, Cpt. Brian Lohrke with the University of Utah Department of Public Safety said that two weeks ago, someone reported Shokunbi entered the apartment of students who live off campus. Weeks after, the same man was reportedly seen following a girl into a dorm.
Shokunbi was arrested for trespassing days later, after he was back on campus at Ekller Village residential housing building, and acknowledged he knew he was not supposed to be there, Lohrke said. He was booked into Salt Lake County Jail but was released.
“After that release, we had some concerns because of his willfulness to ignore our trespass order,” Lohrke said. “So we issued a campus-wide alert to the greater community of our campus.”
In the campus alert, police advised students to use the SafeRide program or a courtesy escort around campus, and instructed them to call the University Police if they see something suspicious.
“Take care of one another … consider stopping to help if you see someone in trouble,” the school said.
“When we have some directed stalking activities toward our students, we take that very seriously,” Lohrke said. “And we want to make sure the community knows about it and contacts us if seen on campus again.”
Just three weeks ago, University Police announced they would have a student resource officer stationed at Kahlert Village. That position is set to be filled by the end of October.
At the press conference, Lohrke advised that Shokunbi does have a criminal record in Utah, and in Maryland where he said he’s from. That record includes disorderly conduct, retail theft, and lewdness charges, in addition to pending charges they have along with the Salt Lake City Police Department.
Shokunbi is not in custody at this time, according to Lohrke. Police are not actively looking for him right now, but they’re working with the district attorney to get the charges processed, and if they get a warrant, then Lohrke said, “We’ll go find him.”
“Every time he comes up here, we will arrest him on the trespass that we do have,” Lohrke said.
Students were advised to call University police at 801-585-2677 if they see Shokunbi on campus.
