A joint Gainesville Police Department (GPD) and UF Police Department (UFPD) investigation led to the Thursday arrest of Riley Washington, 36, for escalating inappropriate and sexual behavior around campus.
The three current charges against Washington are loitering and prowling, stalking, and sexual battery. GPD said there are six known victims, but believes there could be more because of the suspect’s method and the underreported nature of these crimes.
Last weekend, UF students reported a series of disturbing encounters with an individual who made them feel unsafe. The behavior was sexual in nature, and law enforcement investigated and quickly found a pattern.
The reported incidents stretched back to July, and GPD Chief Nelson Moya said an escalation appeared to be happening.
Officers identified Washington as a suspect and constructed a “strategic surveillance plan” for locating and monitoring him.
UFPD Chief Bart Knowles said the key to finding Washington was a suspicious activity report by a student on the Gator Safe app. That report allowed law enforcement to identify Washington’s vehicle and then him. Without that information, Knowles said the departments would likely still be searching.
GPD spokesperson Art Forgey said the suspect operated around sorority row, midtown and downtown, and GPD personnel shadowed Washington on Thursday night. When Washington left his vehicle near an apartment building where there had been a past incident, Forgey said law enforcement confronted him.
Forgey said Washington fled on foot near the Wawa on University Avenue, where he encountered another officer and raced across the street onto the UF campus. Forgey said UFPD had a team ready and apprehended Washington.
GPD said Washington’s actions had shown evidence of escalation, from reported groping to full sexual battery. Forgey said Washington’s method was to grope a butt and then run.
“I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be able to know that he’s incarcerated and poses no danger to anyone else,” Moya said.
Both GPD and UFPD urge anyone who may have had similar experiences with Washington to contact law enforcement, no matter how small the information. Moya added that Washington confessed to the activity after being arrested.
Moya thanked the joint team responsible for apprehending Washington, along with university student parents. He said UF parents are strongly united through online communications and helped move the case forward.
Knowles said public safety is a shared responsibility. He called the investigation a perfect example of reporting suspicious activity on the Gator Safe app.
“We started working on this very early, piecing the cases together, trying to develop suspect information, and it was very important, obviously, to a rapid apprehension of this individual,” Knowles said.
Knowles reinforced the saying that if someone sees something, they need to say something.