SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, June 4, 2025 (Gephardt Daily) -- The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office has filed multiple rape charges against 21-year-old Berk Bugarikj, a tennis player for University of Utah athletics.
The charges stem from an alleged incident on Nov. 16 of last year.
The woman who reported the assault, identified in court documents as A.A., said she was with Bugarikj and a group of friends at a bar, and the group went to Bugarikj's residence after the bar closed.
Bugarikj and A.A. went into his bedroom and began kissing, she said, and he began to unbutton her pants, "but she told him she didn’t want to have sex," his charging documents say.
The woman alleged that Bugarikj then raped and sodomized her multiple times as she told him to stop.
Bugarikj faces charges for three counts of rape, two counts of forcible sodomy, and object rape for the alleged crimes. All six charges are classified as first-degree felonies.
A no-bail warrant has been issued for the arrest of Bugarikj, according to his case file. As of late Wednesday afternoon, he was not yet listed as an inmate in the Salt Lake County jail system.
A spokesman for University of Utah Athletics shared the following statement with Gephardt Daily:
"We are aware of the criminal charges filed against a men’s tennis student-athlete. Upon initially learning in November 2024 of an accusation against the student-athlete, the Athletics Department immediately suspended the student-athlete. In January 2025, when no charges had been filed against the student-athlete, the suspension was lifted with the condition that it would be reapplied should charges be filed in the case.
"We treat allegations of significant misconduct very seriously, and the student-athlete has again been suspended."
