A 15-year-old female was raped in a basement storeroom at Pacelli High School Thursday, according to police reports.

Friday, October 08, 1999

A 15-year-old female was raped in a basement storeroom at Pacelli High School Thursday, according to police reports.

According to an Austin Police Department report, the female arrived at the Austin school at 5:15 p.m. Thursday with her volleyball teammates from the LeRoy-Ostrander Independent School District.

She exited the bus and entered the school to ask a concessions stand attendant directions after visiting a public bathroom.

Following the student’s directions, the female proceeded downstairs to the locker room area.

At the bottom of a stairway, she told investigators she was grabbed from behind and pulled into a storage room, where the assault took place.

Afterwards, the assailant told her to "get out before I kill you," according to the police report.

She adjusted her clothes and went to the locker room to change into her volleyball uniform and joined her teammates on the Shamrocks court for the contest.

Later Thursday, she told her parents at their home what had happened to her. They took her to a Rochester medical facility for examination and later returned to Austin to be interviewed by detectives Thursday evening.

The victim described her assailant as having an athletic build, 5-foot, 11 inches to 6 feet tall, wearing blue jeans and a black long-sleeved sweatshirt and a ski mask over his head.

Today, Greg Hereford, principal of Pacelli High School, said, "Pacelli High School is cooperating totally with the police investigation and will cooperative in any way we can with the Austin police."

"Our students’ safety will not be jeopardized in any way and we are all just praying," Hereford said.