BLOOMINGTON — An IU student has seen rape charges dismissed and avoided jail time after a ruling in Monroe Circuit Court Monday.
Samuel Elliott was facing felony charges of rape, criminal confinement, and rape when the victim is mentally disabled or deficient after he allegedly assaulted a woman while she was intoxicated in a bathroom at Teter-Thompson residence Hall on Indiana University’s Bloomington campus on December 2, 2021.
Elliott saw those charges dismissed in Monroe Circuit Court 2 on Monday, June 12, after he agreed to plead to criminal confinement, a Level 6 felony in a plea and sentencing agreement. Elliott was sentenced to 545 days in jail and given credit for two days served. That jail time was suspended. He was ordered to serve one year of supervised probation and to have no contact with the victim.
The woman, identified as an IU student, had been drinking with friends in the residence hall when she began to feel unwell. She went to the residence hall’s restroom. She told police Elliott followed her.
The woman told police that Elliot, who was also a student, asked if they could have sex. She told police she was too intoxicated to provide an answer to Elliot. That is when he raped her as she vomited.
A friend of the woman’s found a used condom in the same restroom where the assault is alleged to have occurred.
Elliott turned himself in at the Monroe County jail after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
