Police investigating Arcadia High School sexual assault allegations against former student

One former Arcadia High School student says she filed a police report last year and nothing was done.

Thursday, June 25, 2020
Police investigating former Arcadia High School student over sexual assault allegations
One former Arcadia High School student says police did not investigate earlier complaints about the allegations.

ARCADIA, Calif. (KABC) -- Arcadia police say an investigation is underway after the department learned about sexual assault allegations through social media involving former and present students at Arcadia High School.

"The allegations involve sexual activities of high school students both present and former and one of the allegations was photos may have been exchanged by a male suspect who was a former Arcadia High School student," said Arcadia police Capt. Paul Foley.

Hailey Cheng, a former Arcadia High School student, recently posted on a community Facebook page.

The 18-year-old says she's not one of the victims, but she alleges a group of boys at the school were sharing videos of themselves having sex with non-consensual girls. The videos were posted to group chats.

"These girls didn't know about these videos, and they were basically spread around the school and passed around these girls bodies like they were trading cards," said Cheng.

Cheng says she filed a police report last year and nothing was done.

"A lot of these perpetrators were people I sat next to in classrooms. I was just so disgusted that this was allowed to go on for so long," said Cheng.

Police say they first learned of the allegations Tuesday. Investigators are now gathering evidence.

"We're trying to locate the people who may have been involved or pictured in these photos," said Foley.

Cheng says she also reported the alleged incidents to the school two years ago.

"They said they would launch an investigation," said Cheng. "But from what I've heard the boys were never held accountable."

The Arcadia Unified School district issued a statement:

"We are aware of the very serious sexual assault allegations that have been made. We have been working closely with the Arcadia Police Department and will continue to support its investigation in any way possible. We encourage anyone with information related to this case, or any other, to contact the Arcadia Police Department. We will continue to do everything we can to support our students who are victims of an assault".