Oliver La Du, 22, a former lacrosse player for Wheaton College, has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting and choking a Wheaton women’s lacrosse player during September of 2021.
According to The Boston Globe La Du “entered his plea in Attleboro District Court to two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person aged 14 or older and one count of strangulation or suffocation, records show” on Tuesday, March 26.
La Du was a sophomore at the time of the alleged assault, and the victim was a freshman. He was released on personal recognizance (meaning he was released without bail, but signed a written promise to return to appear in court) following his arraignment in Attleboro District Court and is due back on June 7.
The police report states that the alleged assault happened after La Du and the woman went to an off campus party on Sept. 10, 2021. The woman alleges that following the party, La Du said “I’ll walk you” once the party was over, and then led her towards his own dorm room, where he told her that he had to “go grab something” and that she “should come up” to his dorm room according to court. There, he allegedly locked the door and sexually assaulted her.
The woman went to Sturdy Memorial Hospital the next day and Norton police received a sexual assault evidence collection kit. She also spoke with Wheaton’s Title IX coordinator, but “became aware that La Du never completed a statement” about the alleged assault and had left the college,” said The Globe.
La Du transferred to University of Colorado, Boulder. In the summer of 2023, the woman filed an official report with the Norton police.
A Wheaton College spokesperson said in an email to The Wheaton Wire that “the legal case involving two former students is active and, as such, the college is not in a position to provide comment.”