UC Santa Barbara Police arrested one man Wednesday in connection with the February 2014 violent rape and assault of a UCSB student.

Daniel J. Chen, 21, of San Ramon, Calif., was arrested by UCSB Police Wednesday and charged with four felonies: rape by means of force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury; rape in cooperation with another person; battery; and false imprisonment.

Chen is being held in Santa Barbara County Jail without bail. He was arrested in Alameda County in January on an unrelated felony charge, according to the press release, and his DNA was matched to DNA from the crime scene, next to UCSB’s track.

Chen’s Facebook profile says he graduated from Northgate High School in Walnut Creek, Calif. in 2012. Chen attended UCSB from September 2012 to December 2013, according to UCPD.

The female victim was raped and assaulted by three men in the early hours of Feb. 23, 2014, after being taken from Isla Vista to a secluded location next to UCSB’s track. Shortly after the incident, UCPD released a sketch of two of the three suspects, depicting two Asian men.

The victim of the crime filed a lawsuit against the University of California in January alleging that the area of the attack was not properly maintained by the university, UCSB’s Police Department had not properly investigated the case and that UCSB “skewed” its sexual assault figures to attract prospective students.

In January, Tyrone Maho, an attorney for the victim, told the Daily Nexus he hoped the lawsuit would reinvigorate the university’s investigation into the assault.

“Our hope with this whole thing is not only to draw attention to what the university did to basically allow this activity to take place … but also to help with the appeal to find the perpetrators because it has been two years and UC police have not found the suspects,” Maho said in January.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office, Department of Justice Crime Lab and the FBI assisted in Chen’s arrest.

Chen will appear in Santa Barbara Superior Court on Feb. 16.

Print

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs test description