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Carson Dane Ward was charged with rape that night after a 20-year-old woman reported she had met Ward earlier in the evening while visiting a friend, Blacksburg police said. She accompanied Ward back to his house on East Roanoke Street where she said Ward attacked her.
According to the Blacksburg Police department?s crime statistics, 29 rapes were reported during the 2004-2005 fiscal year, more than double the number reported during 2002-2003. Resources for women who are victims of rape are available at Virginia Tech through the Women?s Center and in the New River Valley area at the Women?s Resource Center. After someone is raped, it is important to be sure the victim is not physically harmed, said Debbie McClintock, counselor at the Women?s Resource Center.
?Each case is so unique and each person is different,? said McClintock. Most women go to hospital emergency rooms or call the police to start the process of dealing with rape or sexual abuse, McClintock said.
Help resources like the Women?s Center and the WRC can help victims through the process free of charge. Some of the services that are offered by the WRC include Care Companion, where victims can work with counselors, a public hotline and a 1-800 number, said Malinda Funk, intern at WRC.
?We go through so much that we understand the court process very well,? said McClintock. The Women?s Center, founded in 1994, offers individual services, counseling, short-term counseling, support groups and advocacy. Any member of the community can receive these services.
Sexual assault occurs in one in four girls by age 18 and in one in six boys by 18. The statistic continues to rise each year with women, however. McClintock would like college students to realize that rape and sexual assault are possible anywhere, but that the local area doesn?t produce any special challenges.
?The New River Valley area is no more dangerous than anywhere else,? said McClintock.
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