KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Wednesday that a man was arraigned last week for raping a Western Michigan University student in 2013.
29-year-old Caleb Watson of Milford faces four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of assault with intent to commit penetration.
The AG’s office says the assault happened in the 18-year-old victim’s dorm room.
She and Watson, who was 20 years old at the time, were acquaintances because they lived in the same dorm, according to Nessel.
Her office says Watson used force or coercion to scare and overpower the victim before raping her.
The victim suffered both physical injury and long-term mental anguish because of this sexual assault.
The charges against Watson stem from a lengthy investigation by the Kalamazoo County Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI), which is a partnership between the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s Office and the YWCA of Kalamazoo.
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Right now, the Kalamazoo SAKI Team is working on 225 cold case sexual assaults that happened in Kalamazoo County between 1976 and 2015.
So far, Kalamazoo SAKI has gotten 14 convictions and 11 other cases that have been bound over for trial in Kalamazoo County.
“This case exemplifies the long-term trauma that can stay with the victims of sexual assault,” Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting said. “Victims often continue to deal with the impact of sexual assault for years and for some victims it becomes a life-long struggle. Helping those victims obtain a sense of justice, even years after their assault happened can be very important for their recovery. That is just one of the many reasons I am proud to be working with the Attorney General and our SAKI team on these difficult cases.”
“The work of our department, in collaboration with the SAKI units in Kalamazoo and elsewhere, continues to show sexual assault survivors that justice is still a viable pursuit, even ten years on,” Nessel added. “Our hope and goal is that this pursuit leads to aid the healing process for victims. Investigations, charges, convictions; these are important elements of a broader process of securing justice and helping victims to recover.”
The Michigan State Police Fugitive team arrested Watson in Livingston County on April 25, 2023.
If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
Watson will be back in court May 10.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, help is available.
You can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) to be routed to a local sexual assault service provider in your area for free, confidential help.
You can also receive support, advice and crisis intervention through a secure instant messaging format by clicking here.
