Two sexual assault cases involving Shippensburg University students are heading to Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas this fall, according to court documents.

In April 2019, charges were filed against two men who were accused of sexual assault in separate cases — one on campus in an SU residence hall and another off campus. According to court documents, both assaults occurred in 2018.

One of the accused men, Josiah Michael Kushner, 20, of Hummelstown, was charged with multiple counts relating to an assault in McCune Hall, including two second-degree felony sexual assault charges and multiple misdemeanors including strangulation and harassment. 

Kushner is accused of sexually assaulting a female Shippensburg University student in Sept. 2018 in her McCune Hall room. 

According to court documents, the woman reported the assault to the Shippensburg University Police Department the morning after the attack. The victim told police she invited Kushner to visit her and attend an off-campus party on “Frat Row.” However, the victim said she changed her mind about going to the party, which caused an argument between her and Kushner, according to the affidavit. She reported that Kushner grabbed her chest multiple times throughout the argument, before she agreed to go to the party where she drank alcohol.

According to court documents, the woman, her roommate and Kushner returned to her room around 1:25 a.m. The woman reported that she woke up feeling “sick and dizzy” and then Kushner started to assault her. She fell asleep before waking up to Kushner sexually assaulting her again, according to police.

The court documents said Kushner put his hand around the woman’s throat while he sexually assaulted her, causing her to be unable to breathe. She was able to push him away.

In a Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office and university police recorded phone call, Kushner admitted that he did not have consent to touch the woman in a sexual manner and that he may have injured the woman, according to court documents.

Kushner’s trial is scheduled for Nov. 4.

In the second case, Joshua Michael Koumaras, 22, of Phoenixville, was charged with second-degree felony sexual assault and a misdemeanor indecent assault of an unconscious person for actions related to a March 2018 incident. 

According to the police report, a woman reported she was told that Koumaras, an SU student at the time, accompanied her home after a night of drinking at a party. She could not remember coming home with him but told police she “would never” have sex with him.

Koumaras told the woman that they had sex that night, the report said.

In November 2018, Koumaras admitted via text that he and the woman only had sex when he “raped” her. He added, “I could literally be in jail.”

Koumaras is scheduled for a pre-trial conference in mid-October.

Resources for campus community members impacted by sexual assault or misconduct are available through the Women’s Center, Counseling Center, Shippensburg University Police Department, Dean of Students Office, the SU Title IX Coordinator Dr. Daniel Velez and the United Campus Ministry. 

For more information on these resources, visit ship.edu/no_more.

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