 "Photo: Photo courtesy of Hilo Police Department.")
On April 21, Nicholas Lowder was arrested, questioned, but not charged for his alleged involvement in two sexual assault cases in Hale Kehau dormitory.
According to court documents, on April 17 the victims invited Nick to their dorm room and instructed him to pick up alcoholic drinks. He arrived with another adult male named Jake.
The victims allegedly played a drinking game with Nick and Jake. If the victims drew a four card, they would have to drink out of a cup prepared by Nick and Jake. The men drank out of their own cups.
One of the victims took one sip and the other took four sips. One of the women told officers that she "felt sick and weird and then lost consciousness." Detective Duarte wrote in the affidavit that "she awoke to find herself naked and Nick on top of her having vaginal intercourse." Duarte continued, "she then blacked out again for an unknown amount of time."
The other victim stated that she "started feeling sick, weird and foggy and then lost consciousness." She noted that Nick allegedly offered them Ecstasy but they refused. Duarte wrote, "She remembered playing spin the bottle and that she and [the other victim] kissed ‘Nick' and ‘Jake' and gave each other hickeys and blacking out."
According to the document, "She remembered being partially conscious, and ‘Jake' was on top of her having vaginal intercourse."
The first victim stated, "when she awoke Nick and Jake picked her and [the other victim] up and took them to the bathroom and put her in the shower." Apparently the victim woke up in the morning and felt sick until noon.
On April 20, three days after the alleged events, a sexual assault exam was conducted on the victims. According to the court document, both victims had internal injuries to their vaginas.
The next day both victims, at separate times, immediately identified Nicholas Lowder as the person known to them as Nick.
Lowder was arrested shortly thereafter at the HawCC campus. According to the court documents, "After being advised of his rights, he requested a lawyer and was not questioned regarding these sexual assault reports."
A search warrant is being processed for DNA samples, photographs of tattoos, and hair samples from Lowder.
No information was given about Jake except a short description. The victims describe him "as a local male, 6'1" tall; husky built, weighing about 260 pounds."
No one has been charged at the time of press.
Two UH Hilo "Sexual Assault" security reports were generated about the incident on April 20. A Campus Crime Alert email was sent to the university ohana stating "the alleged assaults suggest the involvement of date rape drugs." The Tribune Herald also published a story on April 27 titled "UHH coeds tell of sexual assault."
is a member of the 
10 comments
I don't know what happened but it could go both ways. The girls could have lied, like they said they blacked out. sometimes when you black out your body, mind, mouth everything still operates and even above it states that they were all intoxicated. How would they young men know that they were as the girls say "blacked out" I'm not taking sides. I'm saying that in actuality EVERYONE is innocent un till proven guilty. And obviously he hasn't been proven guilty. So before the hurtful name calling starts and all the harsh stares. I would suggest that everyone really think about it. Because I mean girls are just as capable of lying to.