PLU student explains how she fought off man accused of breaking into her dorm at night to assault her

A college student who was groped and sexually assaulted after a man broke into her dorm at Pacific Luthern University is sharing her story of survival following that attack.  

Tacoma Police arrested Dylan Robinson after investigators say he broke into at least two dorm rooms on campus, terrorizing multiple people on Mother's Day weekend. 

"That’s every woman’s worst nightmare, waking up with some stranger groping you," said the student. "It was 5:30 in the morning and I woke up to this man breathing heavily over me."

The senior at Pacific Lutheran University didn't want us to use her name for safety reasons but wanted to speak to FOX 13 so her voice could be heard.  She said it happened to her while she was sleeping in her studio apartment in the South Hall building.

"He noticed I woke up, and then he started pinning me down, and so then I go into fight mode and I start screaming," she said. "I’m screaming my head off, and he starts booking it out of my apartment, he’s tripping over things, and I’m smacking his back."

Pierce County Sheriff's deputies say it was Robinson who was responsible for the attack. The college student says after attacking and traumatizing her, Robinson ran from the room with pants around his ankles, stealing her phone on the way out.  

"My phone was plugged in next to my head, and he grabbed it, so I wouldn’t be able to call 911," she said. 

She contacted her boyfriend using her computer, then drove to campus security to report the assault. 

Featured

Deputies arrest man accused of breaking into PLU dorm, groping students

Pierce County deputies arrested a man who broke into two dorm rooms at Pacific Lutheran University and groped students while they were sleeping.

"I burst in. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. Some guy just broke into my apartment and tried to rape me, and I’m freaking out’," she said. 

To her surprise, there was another young person in the office who'd been assaulted as well, with that assault taking place about an hour before the attack on her.  She says that person was staying in an apartment on the far side of the complex, and had woken up at around 4:15 am to a man in the apartment. 

The Pierce County Sheriff's Department said in a statement that the student thought they saw someone in the dark and got up to check a closet. That's when the man was accused of grabbing them and groping them. That person also hit him and screamed for him to leave and two other people who were in the apartment at the time helped to chase him out.  

Unable to sleep, that trio of roommates decided to get breakfast at around 5:30 a.m., at around the same time Robinson was accused of returning to the dorms for the second assault. That first group of survivors heard screaming, and saw the same man fleeing the building again with his pants around his ankles. They said they recognized him as the same person who had been in their apartment and followed him and confronted him a few blocks away. 

He is accused of throwing a shoe at one of the roommates from that first attack. A person from that group then pepper sprayed him and someone took a picture of him at that time, so law enforcement could eventually track him down.  

"His pants were down, and as soon as he pinned me, I saw in his eyes what he wanted to do and that was terrifying because in the past, I’ve been assaulted and I've seen that look before. I knew if I don’t fight right now, I’ll be another victim," she said. 

Robinson was quickly identified via tips from the public and arrested, but has since been released from jail pending further investigation.  

"That gives me a lot of anxiety," said the student we spoke with. 

She wants to warn other young women to lock their doors and secure their windows.  She also wants to let them know it's okay to come forward if the unthinkable happens.  

"The reason I did this interview was so that other victims that go through sexual assault and sexual violence know you can talk about it," she said. "You deserve to be heard, and you deserve to be listened to." 

Related

Pacific Lutheran University groping suspect was previously employed at a public community college

A man arrested in connection to sexually assaulting students at Pacific Lutheran University on Mother's Day was also employed at a public community college in Bremerton.