DETROIT – Katie Karlson remembers that hot August night on her porch near the University of Michigan campus.
For the second time in six days a large man was approaching her house with his pants down, masturbating. The first time he had covered his face with a T-shirt. But this time she could see his face, and he was standing much closer at the end of her driveway, about 10 feet from the porch.
“I said to my friends, `Oh my God, he’s here again,’ ” said Karlson, a 21-year-old Michigan senior from Ortonville, recalling the night of Aug. 28. “This went from gross to threatening. We didn’t know if he was coming after us.”
Larry Harrison Jr., a Michigan sophomore and a 6-foot-3, 300-pound football player, has been charged with four felonies in connection with the incident at Karlson’s house and three similar cases of indecent exposure near the campus.
Harrison, 20, who is scheduled for a preliminary examination Wednesday in 15th District Court in Ann Arbor, said he is innocent and continues to attend classes at Michigan, according to court and university records.
But police and the victims want Harrison suspended from school or placed on an electronic tether until the cases are decided.
Harrison, who has been suspended from the football team, is free on a $500 bond. He has been ordered to be off campus by 8 p.m. and at home by 10 p.m., according to court records. His father must also stay at Harrison’s Ann Arbor apartment or the student must spend the night at his parents’ Detroit home.
The case has pitted the rights of the victims, who say they fear retaliation from Harrison, with Harrison’s rights to a fair trial and an education. Victims say Harrison’s status as a U-M football player makes it harder to accuse him.
Anthony Chambers, Harrison’s attorney, said his client is innocent and is complying with the bond conditions.
“We believe the statements of the victims are based on fear, not facts,” Chambers said. “He has not approached any of the victims or tried to intimidate them.”
But Karlson said there is no way to monitor Harrison’s compliance with the bond order.
“It’s so ridiculous,” Karlson said. “He doesn’t follow the rules. This guy goes up on front porches when he knew he had a lot to lose. I don’t want to pass him in Mason Hall,” a classroom building on campus . “U-M should get him out of here or at least put him on a tether.”
U-M officials say they cannot comment on the case because of federal educational privacy laws, said U-M spokeswoman Julie Peterson. But she said officials balance the rights of accused students with the safety of the campus and have removed students in the past.
She said students victimized by crimes are offered services through the Office of Student Affairs.
But Karlson said she feels the university isn’t doing enough to help her and the other victims, who must testify against Harrison in open court.
“I got a voice mail from the Office of Student Conflict Resolution, and they said he was enrolled,” Karlson said. “They said if I feel uncomfortable to call them.”
Keith Elkin , executive director of OSCR, said the victims or a member of the faculty or U-M staff must file a complaint to initiate a code hearing. To date, no one has filed a complaint against Harrison, he said.
A father of one of the victims said his daughter is afraid to file a complaint. When Harrison allegedly appeared at his daughter’s house, he moved from the sidewalk to a spot close to the front door, according to police.
“My daughter was offered counseling, but to pursue any request to remove him from campus she needed to bring a formal charge in her own name and she said forget it,” said the father, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified because he feared for his daughter’s safety . “I don’t want her to be singled out and face him and then get a midnight visit.”
Ann Arbor Police Chief Dan Oates said he understands it is difficult for U-M to balance Harrison’s rights with the rights of the victims , but added, “It is our posture that this guy is a predator and he has terrorized a lot of people in Ann Arbor. I would feel better if he was on a tether. ”
Ann Arbor Detective Chris Fitzpatrick said Harrison is a suspect in 12 other cases of indecent exposure in campus neighborhoods between August and December of last year. As the weather grew colder, the suspect, whose description matches Harrison’s, moved from sidewalks and driveways to standing on porches. He always targeted houses where groups of women lived alone and in five cases went to the houses twice.
Police organized teams of undercover surveillance officers after six incidents and observed Harrison’s car in the neighborhoods where the incidents occurred, according to police.
Police say four officers caught him masturbating outside a home in the 700 block of Division Street on Dec. 7 and charged him with a misdemeanor after his arrest. Last month, the charges were increased to four felonies of being a sexually delinquent person after the victims, including Karlson, identified him in a line up. If convicted, he faces from one day to life in prison.
Corinn Cunningham has identified Harrison as the man she saw masturbating near her front porch on McKinley Avenue in August. She said the fact that he is a football player intimidates her.
“I wouldn’t like to run into him, especially with the whole football team behind him,” said Cunningham, 22, from Grosse Pointe Farms, who graduated from U-M in December. “If it were any other student he would be off campus.”
