EUGENE–Lt. Joan Saylor of the University of Oregon Office of Public Safety issued the following statement on Tuesday evening (Nov. 2) regarding harassing telephone calls:

"Over the past few weeks and since the distribution of a recent issue of Playboy Magazine featuring students of the PAC 10, many women attending PAC 10 schools have received threatening phone calls. We are aware of at least 25 calls made to students at Washington State University and three to students at the University of Oregon tonight.

"The caller asks for the victim by name, asks sexually explicit questions and then threatens to sexually assault the victim if they do not answer the questions. The caller is doing this in a way that would lead the victim to believe the suspect knows specific personal information about the caller.

"At this time, we have information that would suggest that the person making these calls is not from the local area and that the information they are getting is being obtained from Internet directories.

"Students and other persons receiving these are advised to contact the University of Oregon Office of Public Safety on campus, (541) 346-5444, or the Eugene Police Department, (541) 682-5111, to report any calls of this nature.

"The University of Oregon Office of Public Safety, in cooperation with Washington State University Police, is investigating the situation and anticipates that the caller will be identified and charged very soon."

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