Raleigh, N.C. — An active-duty Army captain now faces a slate of felony counts tied to two 2019 sexual assault reports at North Carolina State University after Wake County prosecutors reopened the matter this week.
Michael Kranzburg, 27, was charged Tuesday. The counts include kidnapping in the first degree, strangulation assault, a forcible sex offense charged as second-degree, and a sexual battery count. He entered Wake County court for the first time on Wednesday.
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said Thursday that her office passed on charging him in 2019 because prosecutors then believed the evidence fell short. A second woman who came forward in October 2026 changed that calculus, Freeman said.
NC State University Police handled a December 2019 report of an alleged campus assault. Campus officers later took a new report in October 2026 that linked Kranzburg to that December case and to a separate February 2019 incident.
Court filings summarized for the hearing allege he bit each woman’s lip by force. Prosecutors told the court the alleged attacks involved two different women who were then students, with one encounter placed in a dorm room.
The Wake County District Attorney’s Office advanced both cases after the October report. Freeman said hearing from a second victim made it difficult to weigh the first file the way her office did seven years ago.
Kranzburg graduated from NC State in 2021 and remains an Army captain. Defense counsel said he denies the allegations and noted he had been preparing for Special Forces training before the arrest.
The Wake County District Attorney’s Office said the matter is still early, with defense lawyers seeking the investigative materials. Additional Wake County hearings are expected as NC State University Police and prosecutors prepare the dual-case file.
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Filed under: Raleigh NC Crime News
