A UConn senior, currently suspended from the school's men's soccer team, is under arrest in New York, accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a female UConn student.
The Connecticut Department of Criminal Justice (DCJ) says Ziyad Fekri, 21, of Morocco, was first arrested by university police in February, after the female student reported an assault to UConn Police. He was charged with second and third degree sexual assault, disorderly conduct and unlawful restraint. At the time, Fekri was released on $75,000 bail and ordered to stay away from the alleged victim.
UConn Police say they later found Fekri had assaulted the woman multiple times, and the attacks "escalated" over a "monthlong time period." They allegedly included, according to DCJ, "pulling of hair, grabbing the victim from behind around the neck, punching her in the face with closed fists, cutting the victim with a knife and two sexual assaults at knifepoint."
When a new arrest warrant was issued last week, police found that Fekri had left campus. He was arrested by the FBI Monday at a home in Elmsford, New York, where he was said to be staying with friends.
Fekri is being held on a fugitive from justice charge in Westchester County, New York, and is expected to be extradited to Connecticut to face two counts of first degree aggravated sexual assault and one count of unlawful restraint. Bail attached to the Connecticut arrest warrant is $500,000.
According to his UConn soccer bio, Fekri transferred from Louisville in 2019.