Suspect in Virginia student disappearance tied to 2002 rape probe

By John Clarke (Reuters) - The man arrested in Texas for the abduction of 18-year-old University of Virginia student Hannah Graham was the focus of a college rape investigation in 2002 and has a long history of arrests, records revealed on Friday. That revelation came as authorities said they were extraditing Jesse Matthew, 32, to Virginia from Texas on Friday for a court appearance next week in connection with Graham's disappearance. Graham was last seen leaving a bar in Charlottesville, Virginia, in the early hours of Sept. 13.Prior to this incident, Matthew was a primary suspect in a 2002 campus rape investigation while attending the Christian university founded by Jerry Falwell in Lynchburg, Virginia, according to Commonwealth's Attorney Mike Doucette.A woman reported she was raped on the campus of Liberty University on Oct. 17, 2002, according to a statement from Lynchburg police.The woman in the case told authorities she had not consented to sex, but decided not to pursue the case. No charges were filed against Matthew."The issue was one of consent," Doucette said. "Basically, the woman was saying she hadn’t consented, and Matthew was saying she had." Matthew was a student at the university from 2000 to 2002 and played on the school's football team, university officials said in a statement.School officials would not say whether Matthew was expelled after the incident, citing federal privacy laws. They did say that he left the Lynchburg campus within months of a complaint being filed. The university statement also referenced a campus crime log reporting an alleged rape that occurred on Oct. 17, 2002. It did not did specifically name Matthew. Only one rape incident was reported on campus that year.Matthew's attorney, former prosecutor James Camblos, declined to comment on the 12-year-old incident. Charlottesville General District Court documents show Matthew has a long history of arrests. He was charged with attempted grand larceny, misdemeanor assault and trespassing in 2009, with prior convictions for public intoxication and indecent exposure. Matthew was found Wednesday in a tent pitched on a secluded beach outside of Galveston, Texas, about 1,300 miles away from the University of Virginia campus. His arrest came a day after a warrant was issued accusing him of abduction with the intent to defile. (Reporting by John Clarke in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Eric Beech)