‘Just good detective work’: Suspect in Sacramento State sex assaults found in Germany
Authorities have arrested a man suspected of sexually assaulting two Sacramento State students in separate attacks reported in the fall. He was found in Germany and is accused of fleeing the United States to avoid capture.
Nida Muhammad Niazy, 31, was taken into custody by German authorities with help from FBI agents and Interpol investigators, authorities announced Thursday afternoon in a news conference at the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.
The first sexual assault — reported Sept. 20 — occurred Aug. 21 near the campus, said Sacramento State Police Chief Chet Madison. He said the second sexual assault — reported Oct. 21 — occurred Sept. 18 on campus. Authorities have not released any further details about the assaults.
“The survivors, I want to commend them for their trust in contacting law enforcement,” Madison said at the news conference. “These cases, like the sheriff said, are always very difficult.”
Investigators later identified Niazy as the suspect in the two sexual assaults and obtained an arrest warrant for him on Nov. 9 in Sacramento Superior Court. Madison said Niazy faces multiple felony charges stemming from the two reported sexual assaults.
Authorities on Nov. 16 released photos of Niazy. The Police Department said it identified Niazy as the suspect by following up on investigative leads submitted by the public. Police said at the time that Niazy was not a student at California State University, Sacramento, although he had identified himself as a Sacramento State student named “Zayn.”
Detectives with the sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau, which assisted Sacramento State police in the investigation, later discovered Niazy was in Germany, said Sheriff Jim Cooper.
“That’s their job to hunt down fugitives,” Cooper said about his Major Crimes Bureau. “Just good detective work, that’s what it came down to.”
Officials on Thursday declined to discuss how exactly investigators discovered Niazy was overseas.
Sean Ragan, special agent in charge of the FBI Sacramento field office, said the local investigators asked the FBI to help them find and apprehend Niazy. There are FBI agents and personnel assigned in over 60 different locations throughout the world, including in Germany.
FBI agents in Germany, along with Interpol investigators, were asked to help find Niazy. He was arrested by German police on the Sacramento County warrant and a federal warrant on suspicion of unlawfully fleeing the United States to avoid prosecution.
Niazy on Thursday remained in custody in Germany awaiting extradition to face charges in Sacramento County, Ragan said. It’s unclear when Niazy will be returned to the United States.
The investigation into the reported sexual assaults continues, and authorities are asking any other potential victims to come forward. Madison, however, said they did not have any information that links Niazy to any other reported sexual assaults at or near the campus.
Madison said Niazy does have relatives in Sacramento, but the police chief said he did not know how long Niazy had been in Sacramento County around the time of the reported assaults.
Other reported Sacramento State sexual assaults
There were multiple reports of sexual assault at or near the Sacramento State campus early in the current academic year. The two assaults that Niazy is accused of committing are among at least five between late September and early November, campus officials said.
In December, Sacramento State students led a town hall meeting to discuss the campus sexual assaults and demanded action from the Sacramento State police and school administrators, the university’s State Hornet newspaper reported.
Last month, Sacramento State President Robert S. Nelsen unveiled an “action plan” to address sexual violence and bolster campus safety measures. Campus officials want to streamline what the plan acknowledges as a “cumbersome” reporting process for victims of sexual violence.
The plan includes the hiring of additional community service officers, social workers and complaint or Title IX officers. It also includes upgrades to lighting at problem locations, along with creating and promoting resources, including videos and information campaigns regarding available services, such as campus safety escorts and counseling.
