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Former UCLA Water Polo Player Charged With Sexually Assaulting 3 Women
A former UCLA water polo player has been charged with sexually assaulting three women over the course of six months.
Hakop Jack Kaplanyan, 19, was arraigned today and charged with eight counts that include forcible rape, the District Attorney's Office announced. Kaplanyan was arrested last April after a student at UCLA reported to campus police that he had raped her in a residence hall. At the time, his attorney claimed the sex was consensual. Kaplanyan was not immediately charged at the time, but he was suspended from UCLA.
The case has widened since then. The DA's office says that they're charging Kaplanyan with assaulting three women between October 1, 2012 and April 2, 2013. Kaplanyan faces a long list of awful-sounding charges: sexual penetration by a foreign object, assault with the intent to commit rape, false imprisonment by violence, possession of matter depicting a minor engaging in sexual conduct and a misdemeanor count of sexual battery by restraint. He is currently being held on $590,000 bail. He could face up to 37 years in prison if convicted of the charges.
It's not clear whether the other alleged rapes happened on campus or involved any other students, but UCLA police are investigating the case.
Last year after the first accusations surfaced his friends released a video called "Innocence 2013" that proclaimed his athleticism, great personality, honesty and good grades.
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