Ariel Caro, a 2011 graduate from Pace’s Lubin School of Business, was sentenced to two concurrent terms in prison with 10-year post release supervision. He pleaded guilty in July for charges of attempted sex abuse in the first degree and attempted burglary in the second degree. Caro must also register as a sex offender.

On September 11, 2018 at approximately 7:30 p.m., Caro pushed into a student’s dorm room in North Hall. He blocked access to the door, exposed himself and began masturbating in front of her. The student asked him to leave, but he continued with his actions and asked her to engage in his activity. The student acted as if she had a form of autism, a defense method she saw on TV, and as she got louder, Caro fled.

Caro attempted to gain access to other rooms in the dormitory with no success.

According to executive director of Safety and Security of Pace University, Vincent Beatty, Caro was reportedly carrying small amounts of marijuana and storing several bags in a vacant and unlocked room in North Hall earlier that day.

“He entered the campus during the daytime when the gates are open.” Beatty said. “He gained access to both North and Alumni Halls by piggybacking, or following other students into a building.”

Security responded when they received a phone call from a student’s mother and immediately reviewed the footage. They saw Caro walking on campus and detained him until the Mt. Pleasant Police arrived to arrest him.

In the victim’s impact statement, the student said, “I wondered whether my life ambition of going to university was misplaced and thought about dropping out of college, but realized that this would only harm me further… I hope one day I will feel safe again and not so helpless, a feeling I never had before this horrible attack.”

Security gates outside of entrance three, Pace’s main entrance, are closed from 10 p.m. through 6 a.m. Monday through Thursday. Every week and weekend night, the main entrance is staffed with a security guard and all access points have security cameras.

This Pace Safety Security Notification was released by the Safety and Security Department two days after the incident.