Student Regent Speaks on the Record, Responds to Allegations
David Gao and Traci Garling Lee | Feb 22, 2011 | Comments 12
Student Regent Jesse Cheng has decided to speak on the record in the wake of last week’s New University article, “Student Regent Under Investigation,” in which allegations of sexual assault were brought forth to the public.
Amidst the Nov. 4 arrest, the rumors and any speculation, Cheng maintains his innocence and renounces any notions of stepping down from his role as Student Regent.
“I currently don’t have any plans to step down, especially because I would never step down as an admission of guilt,” Cheng said, “because I’m not guilty.”
Though Cheng originally declined to comment on the record in order to “defend the privacy and interests of all the students involved,” he is now speaking up.
“[This issue] has become a public thing, and it has become a very serious issue,” Cheng said. “It’s come to the point where I’ve had to tell my side of the story and clear my name.”
The Orange County district attorney’s office has also provided additional clarification on the case – information that was provided to the New University last week.
OCDA Chief of Staff Susan Kang Schroeder said that the case was rejected on Dec. 1, 2010 due to an insufficiency of evidence.
“A deputy DA reviewed the case, and she concluded that she could not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Schroeder said. “It was submitted to our office for misdemeanor sexual battery. We’re not saying it didn’t happen, we’re just saying that we cannot file a case unless we can prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. And in this incident we could not.”
Schroeder provided three reasons as factors for the case being rejected: the length of time it took to report the incident (approximately three weeks), the fact that the two involved parties had a prior relationship and the fact that the two continued to communicate after the alleged incident.
Schroeder also dismissed any notions that Cheng’s position with the UC had any effect on the proceedings.
“The deputy on this case was not aware of any position that Cheng held, nor would it have made a difference,” Schroeder said.
In response to the three e-mails Cheng sent to Laya, the alleged victim, in which he admitted the sexual assault, Cheng says that the police and DA had access to them and still chose not to proceed with criminal charges.
Although Cheng admits he wrote the e-mails, he explains that he did it because Laya had asked him to.
“She was calling me 50 times a day for two hours on the phone a day,” Cheng said. “To be honest, my life was cracking because of these phone calls. They were extremely disruptive and I was extremely stressed out. So I lied in the e-mails to do whatever I could to move forward with my life.”
In the e-mails, Cheng apologized and acknowledged the crime. “I’m sorry for sexually assaulting you,” he wrote in an e-mail dated Oct. 19. “I am a horrible person for what I did for [sic] you, I tried to rape you, and I thank you everyday for not letting me do that to you.”
Cheng says now that he knows it was a mistake. “I was trying to say whatever I could to get her to a point where she would stop calling and I could slowly regain my life.”
As of Feb. 20, UCI’s Office of Student Conduct investigation is still ongoing. Cheng said he had no information about when a decision would be made.
“I recognize the privileges that I have as a man, and I recognize that gender violence and violence against women is a serious issue,” Cheng said. “But I’m innocent. I’ve been working on those issues my entire college career. I would never engage in behavior that would compromise those values.”
Filed Under: News
I’m actually watching Saw 3 right now and I can’t help but see Jesse Cheng as a potential subject…
Da da da… dadada… dadadadada…
it’s kinda ridic that people are starting to think that they have the whole story because of one published e-mail. if it really is true that “laya” coerced cheng to formulate those e-mails, which perhaps cheng was able to prove one way or another, then who is the crazy one?
IF this kid is innocent, think of what this has done to his reputation and the ramifications regarding his future ambitions. meanwhile, the anonymous laya gets to continue her law studies and later law career without this kind of public stain…
just saying. this should have all been kept under wraps until all investigation finished. seems like “laya” didn’t get what she wanted from the cops and DA, so she turned to the media because if they found nothing legally punishable so she figured that at least she can humiliate him publicly.
i agree with you about keeping the case under wraps, but i’m pretty sure there would be other ways the rumors are going to be spread on campus.
i find the wording of the e-mails to be a bit weird and suspicious. i don’t think any real perpetrator would firstly, admit his guilt, and secondly, admit it in a way that is worded so bluntly.
Those of you trying to discredit Laya after hearing Jesse’s response, do you really not expect Jesse to try and discredit Laya’s character by choosing to portray her as crazy? He admitted in the emails to trying to rape her and also apologized for it. Why would someone incriminate themselves just because someone called them too much? Jesse looks like he his backtracking, but that’s hard to do when there is correspondence between the two parties where he admits to the crime.
Jesse is trying to portray Laya as psychotic (as one commenter chose to say) in order to discredit her claims. Isn’t this a typical manipulative trait often found in abusers? What else has Laya done or said that would lead anyone to believe she is psychotic. This sort of victim blaming is what scares other women from coming out about being abused or assaulted.
Also, for those arguing that attempted rape is not the same as rape need to get some perspective. Because a victim was able to fight off their attempted rapist, the rapist should then have lesser consequences? That sounds like really warped logic.
What’s particularly bizarre is how audacious this guy is in his lies. If she really had been calling him an inconceivable 50 times a day for 2 hours at a time, then why would he need to communicate with her in any other way at all? Let alone by sending her an incriminating piece of evidence! lol
Let’s just force him to hand over his phone records to prove it. That should be interesting.
Girls are psychotic. Many friends of mine have had to bend to the whims of psychotic exes who make boys walk circles around them, manipulating them to do whatever they want.
Sorry to stereotype, but this Laya sounds exactly like the girls I knew and what I’ve been through…
Way to go Jesse. I don’t believe this Laya bullshit
Interesting.
Now that the e-mails have been at least partially released, all the Cheng-defenders have magically evaporated.
Perhaps they are allergic to anti-bullshit? It’s like anti-histamines, but for whiny anonymous talking heads who complain about the lack of journalistic integrity and don’t say a word when the article gets sourced.
So, what I’m getting from this is: the Orange County District Attorney lets loose an admitted RAPIST, while he decides to prosecute approximately 30 students (UCI 19 and Irvine 11) for demonstrating peacefully. Even the UCI Student Conduct dept. has been lenient on this rape case. While they disciplined the student activists extensively, Jesse Cheng has yet to be investigated. These are serious contradictions that must be addressed by the University. Immediately.
Just to make a point – he did not ‘Rape’ her.
The charges he was booked under were “sexual battery” , or possibly “sexual assault.” I can’t remember which.
So it’s not the same.
Attempted rape is not the same as actual rape.
From a legalese point of view, not getting raped means that, without absolute proof of the attack (even a confession over e-mail), the instigator goes free. Getting raped means you stand a chance at seeing your rapist go to prison.
Ironic isn’t it? If you don’t get raped, its just not bad enough to spend the time and effort charging someone with the crime. But if you do get raped, tally ho!
i think jesse has got to be one of the dumbest guys out there right now. i’m sorry, but his story just sounds so dumb:
“She was calling me 50 times a day for two hours on the phone a day,” Cheng said. “To be honest, my life was cracking because of these phone calls. They were extremely disruptive and I was extremely stressed out. So I lied in the e-mails to do whatever I could to move forward with my life”
Cheng says now that he knows it was a mistake. “I was trying to say whatever I could to get her to a point where she would stop calling and I could slowly regain my life.”
1) if you lied to her to get your life on track and stop the calls, why’d it have to be stretched out into 3 separate emails? i would think that 1 would be more than enough, if she was nagging you about it.
2) if she asked you to write the emails, why would you listen, and willingly create a hard copy (or should i say copies) of a confession to such a heinous act? that’s shooting yourself in the foot! people lie to get out of trouble, not to get into more trouble, it’s common sense. if you didn’t do anything, you shouldn’t claim ya did.
3) if she was harassing you with all these calls, why stay on the phone for 2 hours? she pushed you to write the emails condemning yourself? so to get her off your back you basically said “i tried to rape you, sorry, stop calling” that just doesn’t make sense. the logic there seems to be really lacking.
found this on another article where Jesse writes in one of the emails: “I am sorry for sexually assaulting you. I want to take complete ownership of that thought, that I tried to convince you to have sex with me when you clearly didn’t want to, when you screamed no and fought me… I tried to rape you and I thank you everyday for not letting me do that to you.”
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20110219-321064/Fil-Am-UCLA-student-accuses-regent-of-rape
that sounds like a real confession, not an attempt to get the victim to stop calling. a confession means something went down…
I think it is interesting that Cheng is unwilling to step down from his position because he says it is an admission of guilt, while he was more than willing to admit in private e-mails to Laya that he was guilty of sexually assaulting her and trying to rape her just to get her to leave him alone and regain his life.
Most people who are wrongly accused never admit to a crime they did not commit.
Let’s remember that survivors of assault spend the rest of their lives trying to regain their lives, Cheng being accountable for his decisions & actions is his responsibility as a man, a student leader, and a student regent and the first step he needs to take to regain his life.