NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A Delgado Community College admissions counselor has been arrested for allegedly demanding sexual favors from a student in return for reducing her tuition.
Rashad Harold was arrested Thursday on one count of misdemeanor sexual battery. The New Orleans Advocate reports (https://bit.ly/2nqF6ty ) a magistrate judge set the 36-year-old’s bail at $5,000. He is due back in court on Tuesday.
The victim, who had just started her first semester at Delgado, said the alleged incident occurred in Harold’s office March 3. She says she went there to check the status of her registration application and to discuss tuition payment options.
Harold asked the woman to come into his office and close the door because “he did not want anyone to overhear how he was going to help her out with her tuition,” NOPD sex crimes investigator Claudia Bruce wrote in an affidavit for an arrest warrant.
The woman told police Harold offered to reduce her bill by taking money off her admission fees and changing her residency status on the application. The woman moved from Chicago six months ago.
Harold then moved from his desk to stand closer to the woman and began making comments about her body, including, “Do you play sports? I can tell you play sports,” as well as asking her to work out with him, Bruce wrote in her report.
Harold then told the woman “you owe me,” she said, and began looking at her in what she described as a sexual manner. The woman decided to leave and went to shake Harold’s hand, but he grabbed her around the waist and began trying to kiss her, she said.
The woman said Harold then began rubbing her “thighs, body and buttocks, above her clothing,” and that she felt him become aroused.
According to the warrant, the woman said she was able to break free and escape from the office. Following the incident, the woman said, she received text messages from Harold but then blocked his number.
She told police she was initially in shock and didn’t know how to process the alleged assault, but that she eventually reported the incident to the college’s police department. New Orleans Police were notified March 17.
WVUE-TV reports (https://bit.ly/2onhQkQ ) Harold was not placed on leave while campus police conducted an investigation, and he continued to meet with students. Delgado administrators declined to comment, referring all questions to the New Orleans Police Department.
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Information from: The New Orleans Advocate, https://www.neworleansadvocate.com
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