An Athens social worker is warning downtown partiers to be extra-careful after a rash of reported sexual assaults.

Devon Sanger, the adult advocate at The Cottage Sexual Assault Center, says she's seen a rise in the number of people—mostly, but not all, women—who've reported sexual assaults after drinking in downtown bars.

Usually, it's a fellow bar patron who spikes a drink and takes advantage of the blacked-out person. But lately, Sanger says she's noticing an even more disturbing trend. Clients who come in for counseling tell her they think a bartender is the one who spiked their drinks, and their stories are remarkably similar. "It seems like it's coming from behind the bar, and someone else is doing the assaulting," she says.

Some of the clients have woken up in a bar, but they're not sure where they were drugged because they were bar-hopping, Sanger says. Others have woken up in unfamiliar houses or dorm rooms, she says.

If a bar employee is responsible for recent druggings and sexual assaults, it's much harder for people to protect themselves, Sanger says. "We've traditionally said, 'Get your drinks from a bartender, not a stranger,' but that's not a guarantee anymore," she says. She now advises bargoers to buy drinks from bartenders they know, watch the bartender pour the drink if possible and stay near friends, preferably at least one sober one.

People who feel very intoxicated after just one or two drinks should tell a friend and get somewhere safe immediately, Sanger says, because date-rape drugs are fast-acting. Victims can black out for hours, although they're still conscious, she says. "It's a different feeling than being drunk," she says.

Last month, 13 people reported sexual assaults to The Cottage, and four of them said they'd been drugged, according to Sanger. That's a much higher number than usual, she says; it started rising last year and jumped when classes started at the University of Georgia last month. "It's been happening since last fall, but it really spiked at the beginning of the semester," she says.

Police haven't received any complaints like Sanger described, says Capt. Clarence Holeman, head of the department's Criminal Investigations Division, but he promised to follow up. Many of the victims Sanger sees elect not to report assaults to the police, she says. It's also hard to verify when people are drugged because the chemicals work their way through the body quickly, so blood tests won't turn up anything after a few hours, she says.

The Cottage recently started a campaign called "Consent Is Sexy... And Required," aimed at educating bar employees and patrons on preventing sexual assault by asking for donations, sending advocates to talk to employees and providing freebies like koozies and posters. Results have been mixed, Sanger says. "There's some that are on board, but it would be nice if it were everyone," she says.