Arrested and released: University of Houston sexual assault suspect still wanted

The University of Houston student body has been in uproar over campus safety after a string of crimes, including sexual assaults has left the student body on edge. 

The man identified as the suspect in one of the latest sexual assaults was arrested hours after the crime happened and released from jail just hours after that, according to records. 

Eric Latroy Brown is accused of raping a student in the campus welcome garage on February 7 at 5:30 p.m., according to court records. 

Eric Latroy Brown

The initial arrest:

His booking information on the Harris County website shows that Latroy was booked into jail that night and released the morning of Feburary 8. The county jail confirmed this. 

A complaint in the case says that hours after the rape, around 11:40 p.m., two officers encountered Brown. 

The complaint does not specify if officers thought Brown was the rape suspect, the document simply says they "approached" Brown.

The document goes on to say Brown did not comply with their commands to get on the ground. The document says that an altercation followed, and the officers ultimately tasered and detained Brown. 

The Harris County District Attorney says that night their intake was presented with the charges of "resisting arrest" and "assault on an officer" for Brown, and that their office declined those charges due to insufficient evidence. 

They could not confirm if any information about Brown being involved in the rape was presented to their office at that time. 

How could this happen?:

Defense attorney Anthony Osso explains that the DA's office cannot accept charges without probable cause and a suspect can't be held without evidence. 

The DA's office says they received a filing for the sexual assault charge on Tuesday, February 11 and accepted those charges on Wednesday, February 12. 

"This looks like a possible miscommunication between officers," he said. "There might not have been a ‘be on look out’ throughout the agency at that time, and if those officers didn't have those details, they couldn't present them to the district attorney's office."

The response :

The University of Houston released this statement Thursday:

"The University of Houston Police Department confirms that the probable cause for the arrest of the individual taken into custody Friday, Feb. 7, was the sexual assault charge. This information was disclosed to the District Attorney’s office. The additional charges would not have existed or been presented but for the apprehension of the suspect for the sexual assault.

On Background: UHPD was made aware that the suspect had been released the following day, Saturday.

Contextually, based on 2023 campus crime data from the six largest public universities in Texas, UH has the second-lowest rate of reported forcible sex offenses, with 3.2 incidents per 10,000 students — significantly below the state average of 5.8 per 10,000 students. UH also had the lowest rate among these universities in 2022. The majority of reported cases involve known perpetrators, and these statistics reflect reports received, not necessarily confirmed incidents. Facts about Campus Crime

The University of Houston remains committed to student safety and continued collaboration with law enforcement agencies to ensure a secure campus environment."

The university declined our interview requests. 

The university put out a comprehensive safety plan that is outlined in this article. 

According to the university's daily crime log, in February thus far (which has been 12 days), there have been four sexual assault reports, four robbery reports and 13 theft reports. 

One of the sexual assaults reported in this time happened in January, according to the log. 

Brown is charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of aggravated robbery. He is wanted in Harris County for these crimes. 

D.A.'s office responds:

"The prosecutors at the Harris County District Attorney’s Intake Division were not initially presented charges regarding sexual assault, though there was mention that the defendant could possibly be a suspect.  After the initial discussion with law enforcement, charges were filed for assault of a public servant and resisting arrest. Upon further review, those charges were declined. 

Afterwards, members of the HCDAO Adult Sexual Assault Division contacted law enforcement to determine the status of the sexual assault investigation, and the decision was made by our prosecutors to file a charge of aggravated sexual assault and aggravated robbery. 

We are actively working with law enforcement to ensure that this violent offender is arrested for these allegations, and the decision to decline the two initial charges is under review by leadership at the Intake Division."