University of Utah Diver Flees US After Rape Charge

A member of the University of Utah swimming and diving team is at large after he was accused of raping a fellow student in her dorm room at the start of the school year.

Benjamin Smyth, 19, is wanted on rape, forcible sodomy and forcible sexual abuse charges, Salt Lake County District Court documents show, via the New York Post.

Smyth, who hails from Canada, received a scholarship as a diver for the Utah swim team.

Benjamin Smyth

Per court documents, Smyth allegedly met the female student during a night out with friends, when he received her number. He allegedly sent her a text later that night asking if her roommates were home. Upon learning they were not, he went to the woman’s dorm room and made multiple unwanted sexual advances, court records say.

According to police, the woman told Smyth she did not want to have sex, which is when he allegedly raped her. He kept a running list of the women he had slept with, police found.

The woman waited until February to report the crime, with Smyth allegedly saying he did not know her. He later retracted that claim and said the two “had sex,” according to the warrant.

Smyth was kicked off the Utah swimming and diving team — just two weeks before the team’s Division I championship meet.

A detective showed up at his dorm room to serve a restraining order, but a roommate said Smythe had moved out, police said.

A private investigator later told police that Smyth had moved back to his home city of Vancouver, British Columbia.

“On February 16 we were made aware of a serious allegation involving a member of our men’s swimming and diving program,” the university told Fox Television Stations in a statement.

“Upon being notified by the University’s Office of Equal Opportunity of a pending investigation, Ben Smyth was immediately suspended on Feb. 20 from all team activities. We take matters of this type very seriously, and have continued to monitor the situation.”

Smyth is no longer listed on the Utah athletics website, as the Post relayed.

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