Cal Poly student on trial for sexual assault

February 2, 2015

A Cal Poly student is standing trial for allegedly sexually assaulting a female friend last March. [Tribune]

The alleged victim, also a Cal Poly student, accuses Frank Nguyen, 21, of holding her down and sexually assaulting her after they spent an evening hanging out together in her apartment. Nguyen, who testified Friday, said the female student never resisted his advances and that he left when she suggested that he leave.

Nguyen is charged with sexual battery and sexual penetration with a foreign object. He told officers during a recorded interview that he was a virgin and was only trying to get to third base.

Officers seized a text message exchange, though, in which Nguyen repeatedly apologized for the previous night. In the text exchange, the alleged victim accused him of sexually assaulting her.

The woman’s account of the night differs from Nguyen’s after they ate dinner in her apartment. She told officers that she asked him to leave after dinner and repeatedly told him to stop when he began hugging and kissing her.

During Nguyen’s interview with police, he said the alleged victim twice told him to leave. When questioned on the inconsistency in his story, Nguyen said in court Friday that he was confused and intimidated by the aggressiveness of officers.

In his interview, Nguyen said he became friends with the alleged victim through the Cal Poly Chinese Student Association. He described the night of the alleged assault as a casual social visit that slowly turned romantic.

After dinner, Nguyen went with the alleged victim to her bedroom, where they lied on the bed and watched a movie, he said. They then began to kiss, and he removed her bra and fondled her genitals.

He told officers that she did not push him off or say anything, and that at one point she was on top of him. He stopped when she began breathing heavily, Nguyen said.

Both the prosecution and defense rested their cases on Friday. Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday afternoon in San Luis Obispo Superior Court.

If Nguyen is convicted of both counts, he will have to register as a sex offender and could face a maximum of eight years in prison. Prosecutors are not expected to pursue the harshest sentence, though.

Between October 2014 and January 2015, three sexual assaults were reported to have occurred at Cal Poly fraternity houses. No arrests have occurred in the cases, though, and prosecutors have yet to press charges.