A 31-year-old man has been charged with a felony sex crime for allegedly breaking into a Pacific Lutheran University dorm in Parkland and groping a female student, according to court records.
Dylan Thomas Robinson was charged Friday in Pierce County Superior Court with indecent liberties, two counts of first-degree burglary with sexual motivation and two counts of fourth-degree assault. He's accused of breaking into South Hall, an apartment-style building on the southern end of campus and entering two dorm rooms where women were sleeping.
Robinson was to be arraigned Monday afternoon. He appears to have no felony criminal history in Pierce County.
If convicted of indecent liberties, the defendant would be required to register as a sex offender, Prosecuting Attorney's Office spokesperson Adam Faber said.
Court records show that in 2011, a woman was granted a temporary domestic violence protection order against him after she reported Robinson, whom she'd formerly dated, threatened to come to her house and hurt her after he was kicked out of a show for "touching other girls." The protection order was dismissed the same month when the woman didn't show up for court.
In the most recent case, charging documents allege Robinson entered an apartment occupied by three students and grabbed a woman's arm and chest. A little more than an hour later, he allegedly groped a woman in another unit while she slept. She reportedly told Pierce County Sheriff's Department deputies the man's pants were halfway down as he left her apartment.
Robinson might have broken in through a window on the northeast corner of South Hall, 610 126th St. S., according to the declaration for determination of probable cause. Deputies found the window was open and a screen had been removed. Residents reportedly told them they didn't move it. Records state forensic investigators recovered fingerprints from the screen that appeared to match Robinson's right index finger.
Tacoma police arrested Robinson the day of the incident. Pierce County Jail records state he was released May 15 pending further investigation, and he was booked back into jail early Saturday morning on a bench warrant.
Students awake to man standing in dorm room
Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the PLU security office at about 7:10 a.m. May 14, according to the probable cause document, where they contacted four South Hall residents.
One student reported she was awoken at about 4:15 a.m. to someone standing in her room watching her and another resident sleep. She told detectives that when she got up and checked her closet, she was grabbed by the man, later identified as Robinson. She said she hit him and yelled at him to get out. The student had visible marks on her forearm and neck that she said she didn't have before the incident.
A student in another room woke up to her roommates yelling, and she noticed the power was out. She contacted campus security. Records state a maintenance crew later found a circuit breaker had been switched off.
At about 5:30 a.m., when a woman in another apartment reported she was groped, a student in the first apartment heard screaming and left the building, according to the probable cause document. The student allegedly saw Robinson leaving the building and called security and 911. She reportedly followed him east on 126th Street. As she followed him, Robinson allegedly hit her with a shoe, and she pepper sprayed him.
The student took a photo of Robinson, which she gave to deputies. The picture was provided to several news outlets, and records state a tipster helped investigators identify the suspect as Robinson.
