The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Dept. is investigating a possible rape case that occurred May 4 in Isla Vista, Lt. Mike Burridge said.

At approximately 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 5, an intoxicated 19-year-old UCSB female checked herself into Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital. Sheriff’s Dept. detectives have been investigating a possible assault committed against the female late Friday night, but the level of the subject’s intoxication that evening has hindered the investigation, Burridge said.

“There’s still a lot of confusion. What we know is that she was at a party with her boyfriend, and they got into an argument, and she left and walked down the street where she met somebody. She started talking to him, and she doesn’t believe she knew him. Next thing she knew she was having sex in a car in an unknown location – she didn’t know where she was,” he said.

Deputies are investigating the possibility that the location may have been St. Marks’s church, according to Burridge.

Burridge said the case has been difficult to investigate because the subject does not entirely remember the night, and she has been not been completely cooperative with officers.

“Hopefully in the next few days, as we talk to people from the party and her boyfriend – people who were less intoxicated – we’ll get a better idea,” Burridge said. “The law does say that you can’t give consent to have [sexual intercourse] if you’re intoxicated.”

Anyone with information regarding the incident is requested to call the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Dept. at 681-4100.

– Marisa Lagos

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