Female students fearful after U.Md. ‘cuddler’ strikes again

College Park (Map, News) - He jumps into female students’ beds, gropes them and runs.

And he keeps getting away with it.

Female students at the University of Maryland are worried about a nighttime attacker who continues to elude police.

“It’s unnerving. It’s especially scary that they haven’t caught him in three semesters,” said Jackie Hryncewich, 18, a freshman government major at U.Md.’s College Park campus.

Prince George’s County police and campus officers plan to canvass off-campus houses and businesses today to alert residents about the “cuddler,” who kissed and fondled two sleeping students Sunday and is wanted for a dozen assault and peeping Tom incidents near campus in the past 18 months, said Officer Henry Tippett, a Prince George’s police spokesman.

Police, who believe the same suspect is involved in all incidents, also have increased patrols, handed out safety brochures and conducted security surveys, said Maj. Kevin Davis, commander of the county’s District I station.

Between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Sunday, a female student and her boyfriend were sleeping in her house in the 7300 block of Hopkins Avenue when the suspect entered her bedroom through an unlocked door and kissed her on the cheek, police said. When the victim awoke, the suspect fled.

Then, between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. in the 7500 block of Hopkins Avenue, the attacker entered a second girl’s room and groped her. She screamed, and he ran away.

Victims describe their attacker as a white man in his mid-20s, standing 5 feet 10 inches and weighing about 170 pounds with dark hair, dark eyes and large eyebrows.

On Sunday, he wore a black, wool jacket and dark pants.

In September, he entered a house in the 7500 block of Dickinson Avenue and crawled into bed between a girl and her boyfriend and fondled her. He then entered a second house in the 4600 block of College Avenue, where he kissed one woman on her forehead as she slept, got into bed with a second and then sexually assaulted a third, police said.

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com

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