4 Pittsfield Men Charged With Rape Of UMass Student

Officials at the University of Massachusetts Amherst were reaching out to stunned students on Monday and assuring them of their safety after an 18-year-old woman reported being gang-raped in her dormitory room.

Four teenagers — Emmanuel Bile, 18; Justin King, 18; Adam Liccardi, 18; and Caleb Womack, 17, all of Pittsfield — pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of carrying out the attack during the early morning hours of Oct. 13.

“It was horrifying when I read that today,” sophomore Gwendolyn Crosby said Monday night, echoing the sentiments of others on campus.

Earlier in the day, UMass Amherst chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy wrote in an e-mail to students that campus police began an immediate ­investigation when the alleged attack was reported and determined that there was no security threat to the general campus.