APD makes arrest in 2018 Sexual Assault case

Lorenza Dorsey—Captain

On October 8, 2019, Auburn Police arrested Ryan Charles Petro, age 27, from Ft. Bragg, North Carolina on warrants charging him with five counts of Rape 1st Degree.

The arrest stems from an investigation into a sexual assault that was reported to police on May 29, 2018. The female victim, a 19 year old Auburn University Student, reported being sexually assaulted at a local hotel by Petro, who was an acquaintance.

An investigation, including forensic examination and analysis of evidence by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, resulted in Petro being positively identified as the individual responsible for sexually assaulting the victim.

Petro, who had been deployed to Afghanistan, was arrested by US Army Criminal Investigations Division (CID) Agents on September 16, 2019 and turned over to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina. Petro waived extradition and was transported to Alabama; he was transported to the Lee County Jail and held on a $500,000 bond. This case remains under investigation by the Auburn Police Division and the US Army CID.

Ryan Charles Petro (Credit: Auburn News)

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