‘Cuddler’ anything but cuddly to co-eds at University of Maryland College Park

College Park (Map, News) - Beware the “cuddler,” police officers warned women Wednesday at the University of Maryland. His return proved a rude awakening for students after his latest attacks Sunday on two UMd. women as they slept in two different houses near campus, one of them in bed with her boyfriend.

Students at UMd.’s flagship College Park campus expressed alarm that the attacker has gotten away with it for three straight semesters, while investigators worried about his growing brazenness.

Mallory Koenings, 21, a senior biochemistry and nutrition major who lives in the neighborhood where the Sunday assaults occurred, shared the sentiments of many students.

“With so many police around, it's weird that they haven't caught him yet,” she said as she walked home from class.

“It's scary,” said Allison Wodaski, 21, a senior marketing major. “But if you lock the door, you can avoid him.”

Handing out fliers with safety tips Wednesday, detectives canvassed the neighborhood where the attacker attacked two women Sunday.

“When you are hanging out with girls, try to be a big brother to them and tell them to lock their doors and windows,” Prince George's Detective Cindy Thompson told a male student who opened his door.

“If someone drinks too much, you should use the buddy system.”

The cuddler kissed and groped two sleeping students -- even as one slept next to her boyfriend -- at two different houses Sunday and is wanted in a dozen assault and peeping Tom incidents near campus in the past 18 months. In the most recent incidents, he entered unlocked doors of houses where students had hosted parties earlier that night.

“This is a public university so there are no gates to keep people off campus so what's to stop him from coming on to campus?” said Maj. Christopher Jagoe, bureau commander for campus police.

Victims described 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 -- a vague description that could apply to thousands of men in College Park, said Maj. Kevin Davis, commander of the county's District I station. He also lamented how some victims waited several hours before reporting the assaults.

Starting in June 2006, the cuddler peered into the rooms of women living in off-campus houses but eventually grew bolder in September, when he entered two houses to kiss and fondle four women, one of whom was sleeping next to her boyfriend.

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com

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