LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — A Louisville man was arrested over the weekend after the investigation of a sexual assault report on the campus of the University of Kentucky.
Louisville Airport police served a warrant and arrested 21-year-old Saif Al-Khafaji, charging him with sexual abuse and indecent exposure. According to a report, the assault occurred in the overnight hours of Nov. 10 near the intersection of Rose St. and Euclid Ave.
“We had a report of two female individuals that were walking on campus coming back from a bar late at night,” said UK Chief of Police Joe Monroe. “They were followed by an individual who grabbed one of the females and tried to drag her into a parking lot.”
“Through the course of investigation and using our security technology and cameras, we were able to identify that suspect very quickly. In doing that we were able to backtrack through this information, got a good facial picture of the individual, identified him,” Monroe said.
After issuing an advisory to the public, police learned of another on-campus incident.
Moore shared, “we found out there was other people that came forward in a second case that hadn’t been reported to UK Police where this same individual had exposed himself on campus to another female.”
According to police, Al-Khafaji worked at the airport where he was arrested. LEX 18 News also learned the suspect had a prior connection to a case at Eastern Kentucky University.
In April, Al-Khafaji was arrested on the campus of EKU for harassing and stalking. According to the citation, at least 10 students had come forward, experiencing harassing and stalking behavior since last September.
The citation also details Al-Khafaji confirmed that “he has frequently walked around campus and engaged with approximately 30, 40, or more EKU females since August 2023.”
Chief Monroe hopes this arrest will encourage students to stay vigilant and continue to report crimes on campus.
“Have we seen an uptick in the reports of sexual assaults on our campus this semester? Yes. A lot of that goes back to what we feel like is good reporting. We are having individuals who feel comfortable now in coming forward and reporting these type of sexual assaults.”
Chief Monroe credits the UK Police Special Victims Unit for helping students feel more comfortable about speaking up. Anyone in the University of Kentucky community who is a victim of sexual assault is asked to call the UK Police SVU at 859-257-8573 to speak with an advocate.
