Undated photo of the University of Iowa's Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house where a woman claims she was raped almost a year ago | twitter.com/UIPhiGam/
Undated photo of the University of Iowa's Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house where a woman claims she was raped almost a year ago | twitter.com/UIPhiGam/
A woman who filed suit this week after she was allegedly raped in a University of Iowa fraternity house more than a year ago is indicative of what many sexual assault victims face, a suburban Iowa City dog safety advocate recently said.
That Makéna Solberg had to file a civil suit against the fraternity and the two members who allegedly sexually assaulted her in September of last year isn't so surprising, Laura Lah said in a post to her social media page.
Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness
| twitter.com/JohnsonCountyIA/
"Even when a victim shows up with the receipts, no charges are filed," Lah said in her Tuesday, Oct. 26, Facebook post. "Why we wonder why offenders are given offers to plead to lesser offenses with lighter sentences?"
Lah, who has been active in the Iowa Pit Bull Rescue Network, is a rescuer for Advocate for Saving Dogs, according to information on her Facebook page. Lah also is founder and director of For the Love of Luscious Love Loyalty & the RIGHT END of the LEASH and she volunteers at Cedar Valley Pit Bull Rescue in Waterloo.
Lah lives in North Liberty, about a 20-minute drive from Iowa City.
Lah's Facebook post linked to a KCRG 9 ABC news story, published the same day, about Solberg's civil lawsuit filed by her attorney, Eashaan Vajpeyi, in Johnson County against her alleged assailants, members of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, known locally as "Iowa Fiji." Solberg is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
Her allegations have led to protests and an online petition calling for criminal charges. The petition currently has over 168,000 signatures.
The lawsuit claims other members of the fraternity, including its officers, instructed others to delete images the alleged rapists circulated after the assault and "to not report the incident, but instead to maintain silence and solidarity on the matter.” The lawsuit also claims that "sexual assault took place as a coordinated and planned effort by fraternity members."
Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness' office is pursuing criminal charges, KCRG reported.
"I'm coming forward with my case not just for myself but for others who have gone through the same thing and need support," Solberg in a Tuesday, Oct. 26, WOWT 6 news story.
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