Traveling worker charged in student assaults
By Melanie Davis
melanie@highcountrymedia.net

Campus police arrested an itinerant worker at Appalachian State University on Sunday within hours of two assaults on students.

A female student called the ASU Police Department after a man grabbed her buttock outside the Doughton Residence Hall at 5:45 p.m. Another female student reported at 7:35 p.m. that a man matching the same description had grabbed her by the arm after she refused to allow inside the East Residence Hall.

Officers patrolling the area sighted a man fitting the description walking along Hardin Street. ASU police officers stopped the man for questioning and one of the victims was brought to the area.

Police said she identified William Anthony Nibblett as the man who had assaulted her. Nibblett, 41, is a not a student or resident of area. His home address is Martinsville, Va.

Nibblett was staying at a local Boone motel, while working in the area for an out-of-town construction company. The company name was not given in the report.

Nibblett was taken before a Watauga County Magistrate and charged with one count each of sexual battery and assault on a female. He is scheduled to appear in district court on Jan. 3 in lieu of a secured $750 bond.

Nibblett did not give investigators a reason for being on campus, though he has been banned from returning.

The notification of a serious crime on campus is required by law. Anyone who notices suspicious behavior is urged to call the ASU police at (828) 262-2150.