GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A University of Florida international student who was the recipient of a full-tuition peace scholarship this semester is facing charges that he raped and stalked a classmate over the summer.
Anghelo Ita Durand, 30, was arrested last week and remained Wednesday in the Alachua County Jail. Prosecutors have indicated they will ask a judge to keep him jailed indefinitely until his criminal case is resolved because they believe he is a danger to the community. A judge has not yet ruled on that.
The university has already banned Ita Durand, who is from Peru, from campus for three years. Ita Durand said the sex was consensual, police said.
Ita Durand could not immediately be reached for comment. The sheriff’s office does not permit interviews by inmates with reporters without permission in writing from a defense lawyer and a senior jail official. The public defender’s office, which is representing Ita Durand, has a policy not to discuss the cases of its clients.
The university awarded Ita Durand its full-tuition J.C. Casagrande Peace Scholarship through its English Language Institute in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The institute’s role is to prepare international students to study at U.S. universities.
Gainesville police said Ita Durand met his accuser about five months ago when they were enrolled together at UF. They were not dating and mostly communicated through Instagram, police said.
She asked him for help on July 18 assembling a piece of furniture because she lacked the necessary tools, so he brought them to her home, police said. After helping her, the two went to a pool bar, where they drank beer.
When they returned to the accuser’s apartment so Ita Durand could pick up his tools, police said Ira Durand forced her into a bedroom and raped her without a condom. The arrest report said the accuser was in disbelief with her eyes closed “because of the horror she was experiencing.”
The prosecutor’s office said in court records that the reason the woman did not report the attack at the time it happened was “due to her inability to discuss.” After the woman said she was raped, the two were classmates in the same classroom for at least one course, police said.
The stalking charge Ita Durand faces stemmed from what police described as his efforts to talk to the woman even after she blocked his accounts online. Police issued a trespass warning after he went back to the woman’s apartment weeks later and knocked on her door repeatedly.
Police said Ira Durand also followed the woman through UF’s campus but stopped near the Center for Latin American Studies when he noticed her friend was with her. Two weeks later, on Oct. 15, police arrested him.
Ita Durand’s public defender asked this week to delay the case until she can find an interpreter to speak with him.
UF records show four other reports of rapes on campus or involving students since Aug. 1. The university has about 64,000 students.
___
This is a breaking news story. Check back in case there are further developments. Contact WUFT News by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news@wuft.org.