UCLA professor of medicine charged with possession and distribution of child porn

A professor at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine was charged with distributing and possessing child pornography, a Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office news release announced Wednesday.

Guido Germano, director of artificial intelligence medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and UCLA professor-in-residence, plead not guilty to one felony count of distributing obscene matter and one count of possession of child or youth pornography Thursday, according to the Los Angeles Times.

He is accused of using a peer-to-peer software to distribute child pornography videos and downloading them to his personal computer, according to Deputy District Attorney Angela Brunson of the Cyber Crime Division in the news release.

Germano is still listed on the UCLA campus directory as of Aug. 2. However, he was placed on administrative leave Thursday after the university was made aware of the charges against him, a UCLA spokesperson said.

He was arrested June 19 and released on bond. His arraignment was scheduled for Aug. 1.

Germano faces a potential maximum sentence of three years and eight months in state prison if convicted as charged, according to the news release. The case is still under investigation.

2019 UCLA Football Season Preview: Team to improve rushing yards with greater experience, speed in backfield

In the final four weeks leading up to the kickoff of UCLA football’s 2019 season, Sports editor Sam Connon and staff writer Jack Perez will be taking a look at the Bruins’ outlook at each position. From award favorites to comeback stories, Daily Bruin Sports will analyze each position’s depth chart and make predictions for how their seasons could unfold. Next up, running backs.

Depth Chart

After breaking out last year, one thing is certain – redshirt senior Joshua Kelley will be the starter this year barring injury or suspension.

Last year, Kelley broke out for 1,243 yards and 12 touchdowns in 11 games as the primary back in coach Chip Kelly’s offense, taking the pressure off of then-freshman quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and the often-injured graduate transfer quarterback Wilton Speight.

This season, Kelley should not be expected to carry the same load as last year, which may help him stay fresh and allow him to make more explosive runs. He accounted for almost half of the team’s carries in 2018, and he can hopefully prove to be nearly as good as LaMichael James was in his career under Kelly at Oregon. Kelley can be the Bruins’ version of James – the primary back who can always be relied upon while surrounded by specialists in the backfield.

If Kelley is James, then sophomore Kazmeir Allen could be the Bruins’ version of De’Anthony Thomas. Allen flashed his potential last season with a 74-yard touchdown carry against Cincinnati in his Bruin debut, but injuries limited him to nine games and 30 carries.

Fellow sophomore Martell Irby is the power to Allen’s speed. The San Diego native carried the ball 45 times for a total of 187 yards, and he may serve as the Bruins’ power back and main pass blocker in the backfield.

Both Irby and Allen – while they don’t come near the star potential of Kelley – are poised to take some of the load off their teammate’s shoulders this fall. After a full year in Westwood, the duo will likely contribute more than the 375 yards they did last season in order to keep Kelley fresh and injury-free.

Kelly brought in a few freshmen to help out if any of his top three go down. The two standouts are Jahmon McClendon from San Diego, California, and Keegan Jones from Cleveland, Tennessee. McClendon is expected to follow Irby’s path and become Kelly’s power back, while Jones is a star track athlete like Allen and will look to his speed to carry him.

Scheme Breakdown

Kelly likes his team to have the option to run the ball a lot.

Last year, they did not have that option in most of their games.

The Bruins were 85th in the nation in rushing yards per game behind teams such as Oregon State – which went 2-10 in 2018 – and California – which the Bruins beat 37-7. As the Bruins consistently fell behind early in games to start the year, the running game stalled and Thompson-Robinson or Speight were forced to throw the ball more often.

The Bruins had a simplified playbook to start the year, but they got more advanced as the year progressed and the players started to get more comfortable under Kelly. If they start out the year on the same page instead of adapting as the year goes on, Kelley, Allen and Irby should be more productive right out of the gate.

The Bruins’ best outlook with its running backs is to take some inspiration from Kelly’s Oregon and Philadelphia Eagles teams. Those squads usually had a primary back – James or former Eagle LeSean McCoy – complemented by specialty backs – Thomas or former Eagle Darren Sproles – that could serve as third-down backs.

The offensive line and Thompson-Robinson’s play should open space for each of the running backs if they both continue to improve. If the quarterback can force the defense out of the box with a few long throws or quick passes to the outside, the Bruins’ backs should be able to take advantage.

Kelley and Irby have both been working on pass-catching and pass-blocking, giving the offense more layers and deception to work with. By spreading the workload and the field, Kelly and the Bruins should be able to be much more creative in the backfield this fall.

Predictions

Kelley is ready to take the next step in his final year with program.

He has now had two whole summers to learn Kelly’s offense, and he can be one of the conference’s best running backs if he is given the opportunity to get consistent meaningful carries.

For that to happen, everyone – including Allen and Irby – must help and improve. If Allen develops into a reliable receiving back, he can outrun almost anyone on the field and turn into a big presence on third down. Irby can give Thompson-Robinson more time in the passing game and convert short-yardage situations to keep Kelley fresh.

If those three combine to rush for 2,000 yards, the Bruins should be in a much better position than they were a year ago. UCLA has to establish a running game early and ride it to victory, or else the pressure will be on Thompson-Robinson, who – while he will likely improve – should not be asked to carry that load alone.

If the team takes a big step forward from top to bottom, the Bruins could hit 2,500 rushing yards, moving into at least the top 30 in rushing yards per game.

Kelley and his two sidekicks have had their time to settle in, and with familiarity finally on their side, they should have a field day breaking through opposing defenses.

Former track coach who trained at Drake Stadium accused of sexual abuse by 41 men

A former track coach who allegedly trained multiple UCLA students at Drake Stadium was accused of sexually abusing 41 men since 1975, ESPN reported Thursday.

ESPN’s Outside the Lines reported that Conrad Mainwaring, a former Olympian and track and field trainer, has been accused of inappropriate sexual contact with many of his trainees. Mainwaring was arrested June 19 on one count of sexual battery by fraud, but plead not guilty and was released on bail. If found guilty, Mainwaring could serve up to four years in prison.

Although Mainwaring wasn’t employed by UCLA, he began to train athletes at UCLA’s Drake Stadium beginning in the mid-1990s. Fourteen men, who trained at Drake Stadium, have come forward to Outside the Lines with stories of abuse, with the most recent coming in 2016.

Former UCLA track and field runner David O’Boyle, an accuser of Mainwaring, and several others wrote complaints to UCLA’s athletic department that resulted in Mainwaring getting banned in 2016 from campus and from working with UCLA student-athletes, according to Outside the Lines’ investigation.

This came after O’Boyle confronted Mainwaring while he was training an anonymous UCLA student on a morning of June 2016. After the confrontation, O’Boyle brought the allegations to the UCPD, which allegedly spoke with Mainwaring but did not file charges, according to Outside the Lines.

Despite the accusations, UCLA’s athletic department said it had no knowledge of any UCLA student-athletes who trained with Mainwaring during their time on the track and field team.

The alleged abuse started in the 1970s in England – where Mainwaring was raised – and continued in the United States, Outside the Lines reported. Mainwaring was a counselor at Camp Greylock, a boys’ sports camp in Massachusetts, where he allegedly abused seven men.

When Mainwaring was a graduate student at Syracuse University in the 1980s, he trained their track athletes as well as some athletes from the local Nottingham High School. Thursday’s Outside the Lines report said seven former athletes from Syracuse and seven from Nottingham have come forward with stories of abuse.

Mainwaring was hired by the California Institute of Technology in 1987 but was fired less than a year later after “an internal investigation related to a student complaint,” according to a spokesperson from the school who shared a statement with Outside the Lines. Mainwaring allegedly abused three men while employed there, according to Outside the Lines.

Mainwaring was originally a track and field athlete for Antigua, competing in the 400- and 110-meter hurdles at the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics.

He most notably coached Felix Sanchez, two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 400-meter hurdles. Sanchez has not come forward with any allegations.

USAC Recap – July 31

The Undergraduate Students Association Council is the official student government representing the undergraduate student body at UCLA. Council meetings take place every two weeks in the Bruin Viewpoint Room and are open to all students. Watch a livestream of the meetings on the USAC Live! channel on YouTube.

Agenda:

  • The council approved the 2019-2020 contingency funding allocation guidelines. Registered undergraduate student organizations can apply for contingency funding, which can help cover items such as advertisement, facilities and travel.

  • Council members discussed rising fourth-year psychology student and USAC election board chair Kyana Shajari’s failure to approve the election code or appoint election board members by the end of July. They plan to have a future meeting with Shajari present regarding the timeline of the special fall election to fill several empty council seats, as well as steps she would take to fulfill her responsibilities.

  • The council allocated $6,552 to the Facilities Commission to pay the office’s directors’ stipends.

  • The council appointed Justin Rodriguez, a rising second-year economics student, to the Campus Retention Committee.

  • The council appointed John Rodriguez, a rising fourth-year english student, to the Campus Programs Committee.

  • The council appointed Kyara Robinson, a rising second-year architecture studies and geography student, to the Campus Programs Committee as an alternate member.

  • The council appointed Nathan Smith, a rising fourth-year computer science student, to the Communications Board. The Communications Board serves as the publisher of all UCLA Student Media organizations, including the Daily Bruin. Smith was previously a member of The Bruin and UCLA Radio. Communications Board members are not allowed to work for UCLA Student Media organizations while on the board.

  • The council appointed Edward Qiao, a rising fourth-year physiological science student, to the Communications Board. He was a member of The Bruin for three years.

  • The council appointed Ashley Joya to the Community Service Minifund Committee.

  • The council appointed Carlos Herrera, a rising third-year biology student, to the Community Service Minifund Committee.

  • The council appointed Angela Li, a rising third-year economics, sociology and psychology student, as Community Service Minifund Committee Chair.

  • The council appointed Rummel Requerme, a rising fifth-year biology student, to the Community Activities Committee.

  • The council appointed Paola Gonzalez, a rising fourth-year sociology student, to the Community Activities Committee as an alternate.

Reports:

Student Wellness Commissioner and rising fourth-year microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics student Mihika Sridhar said her office wants to partner with student organizations for an event at the end of winter quarter to help raise awareness for underrepresented groups who are overlooked in healthcare issues.

With new players and healed injuries, football preps for first game of season

Football is back in Westwood.

UCLA football started its fall practices Wednesday with only 28 days until kickoff against Cincinnati. The Bruins will have 48 new faces on the practice field for the upcoming season, more than a third of the entire roster.

Two wide receivers – senior Theo Howard and redshirt junior Dymond Lee – both wore yellow noncontact jerseys. Howard had a cast on his right forearm, while Lee is coming off an ankle injury that caused him to miss spring practices.

Coach Chip Kelly said he wasn’t worried about either player’s injury, indicating it wouldn’t be too long before they return to live-contact practice drills.

“We’re just being precautionary (with Howard),” Kelly said. “Same thing with (Lee), he may be cleared in the next day or so. He just hadn’t gone full (speed) last spring.”

On the flipside, redshirt senior linebacker Josh Woods returned to the field full-strength for the first time since he injured his knee in preseason practice almost a year ago. Although he didn’t wear a noncontact jersey, Woods still wore a protective brace around his right knee.

Woods didn’t see any on-field action last year and was given a noncontact jersey for spring practices.

Kelly said losing Woods last year was a blow to the team, but his return this week is a product of Woods’ hard work in rehab.

“I was really happy for (Woods),” Kelly said. “We were really counting on him last year, and that we can have him back for a fifth year is huge for him. He’s worked extremely hard in rehabbing (his injury), so it was great to see him back on the field.”

Woods’ senior leadership will be crucial this year, according to Kelly, who said the fifth-year senior earned valuable experience leading from the sideline in 2018.

“We’ve got 87 freshmen and sophomores,” Kelly said. “We have senior leadership with (Woods), (linebacker Krys Barnes) and other older guys and they can help the younger guys get up to speed. But (Woods) did a great job even last year when he was out of helping out mentoring the younger guys.”

And while Kelly made it clear there weren’t any concrete position changes, sophomore and former outside linebacker Elijah Wade was practicing with defensive linemen during individual drills.

Kelly pointed to Wade’s increased size as one of the reasons the staff decided to utilize him as a more versatile defensive threat this upcoming season.

“We’re going to cross-train (Wade) so he can play with a little multiplicity,” Kelly said. “He’s got a little bigger, almost up to 275 now, so he can lend help on the D-line and outside linebacker.”

Redshirt senior linebacker Keisean Lucier-South was in attendance but did not practice. At Pac-12 Football Media Day, Kelly said Lucier-South would be suspended at least until the beginning of conference play due to the same academic issues that caused him to miss the end of spring practices.

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center ranked No. 1 in CA, LA and No. 6 nationally

The Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center was ranked No. 1 in California and Los Angeles by U.S. News & World Report on Monday.

U.S. News & World Report’s 2019-2020 Best Hospitals Honor Roll, which evaluated 4,653 hospitals nationwide, published its regional and national rankings Monday. UCLA medical center topped regional rankings for California and LA and came in at No. 6 nationally.

The outlet analyzed 16 adult medical specialties, nine adult procedures and conditions and 10 pediatric specialties as part of the evaluation. UCLA ranked nationally in 14 adult medical specialties, including psychiatry and orthopedics, as well as in 10 pediatric specialties, including pediatric cancer

To be considered for the rankings, hospitals must meet one of four criteria: being a teaching hospital, being affiliated with a medical school, having at least 200 beds set up and staffed or having at least 100 beds and offering at least four out of eight advanced technologies associated with high quality care, according to the outlet’s website.

Other California hospitals that made the national honor roll are the UC San Francisco Medical Center at No. 7, the Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital at No. 12 and the Keck Hospital of USC at No. 16.

2019 UCLA Football Season Preview: Thompson-Robinson favorite for quarterback, Kelly’s pass offense to be revitalized

In the final four weeks leading up to the kickoff of UCLA football’s 2019 season, Sports editor Sam Connon and staff writer Jack Perez will be taking a look at the Bruins’ outlook at each position. From award favorites to comeback stories, Daily Bruin Sports will analyze each position’s depth chart and make predictions for how their seasons could unfold. First up – quarterbacks.

Depth Chart

Chip Kelly was tight-lipped about the quarterback battle for the entirety of the 2018 season.

But for once, the coach may have already tipped his hand.

Sophomore Dorian Thompson-Robinson is the early favorite for the role and – after Kelly’s glowing praise at the Pac-12 Football Media Day – it’s all but confirmed he’ll be the starter. There are other names to keep an eye on in the quarterback room, but Thompson-Robinson is widely considered to be the day-one starter.

Redshirt sophomore Austin Burton boasted a standout performance in April’s Spring Game for the second straight year. He has yet to take a snap for the Bruins in a regular season game, but he was UCLA’s scout team quarterback for the duration of last season with Thompson-Robinson and Wilton Speight struggling with injuries.

Burton earned the team’s Nick Pasquale Award for Scout Team Excellence and is firmly in the mix for the backup gig in 2019.

The Bruins’ top recruit at quarterback is freshman Chase Griffin, last year’s Gatorade Texas state Player of the Year. Griffin posted over 11,000 yards through the air along with 123 touchdowns and 22 interceptions in his three seasons as a starter in high school, despite measuring in at 5 feet, 11 inches.

Griffin’s size and inexperience will probably keep him from making any starts, but his well-documented high school success could justify some time as the primary backup for the freshman this fall.

Recent transfer Colson Yankoff enrolled at UCLA in June, but he is expected to sit out the season to satisfy transfer rules. Yankoff was the No. 5 dual-threat quarterback in the class of 2018 – two spots behind Thompson-Robinson – before enrolling at Washington, but he did not take a single snap with the Huskies last season.

Freshmen Chase Artopoeus and Blake Kirshner walked onto the team in June, giving Kelly six quarterbacks to work with this season.

Scheme Breakdown

Kelly was always known for his spread offense and running quarterbacks.

But the Bruins’ offense in 2018 did not resemble a classic Chip Kelly offense.

Kelly’s Oregon teams were routinely among the most high-powered offenses in the country. And although then-redshirt junior running back Joshua Kelley got things rolling on the ground toward the end of 2018, UCLA’s passing game was lackluster at best, ranking 61st in the nation.

Thompson-Robinson and Speight split starts and, with the former being a freshman dual-threat and the latter being a graduate transfer pro-style passer, Kelly was unable to integrate his playbook right away.

But with Thompson-Robinson being expected to hold the keys to the offense from day one, Kelly has a much better shot at installing the playbook that earned Marcus Mariota a Heisman Trophy in 2014.

Thompson-Robinson rarely kept the ball for himself in run-pass options last season, a pattern heightened by a constantly changing offensive line in the first half of the season. Now the line in front of Thompson-Robinson is more secure, with senior Boss Tagaloa preparing to play a full season at center this time around.

Kelley will no doubt be the premier ball carrier for all 12 games – barring injury – giving the young quarterback a reliable element of deception he lacked early last season. Kelley said at the Pac-12 Football Media Day that he and sophomore halfback Martell Irby had been working on pass-catching and -blocking this offseason, adding another new element to the offense that should work in Thompson-Robinson’s favor.

With Kelley and Irby potentially joining sophomore Kazmeir Allen as pass-catching backs, Kelly and Thompson-Robinson will have ample weapons to spread the backfield wide and open up the middle of the field.

A full year of Kelly’s playbook in Westwood should help the quarterback option be significantly more effective this year, and more vintage Kelly creativity is bound to follow. Thompson-Robinson, Burton and Griffin can all contribute to the ground game and protect the ball, meaning this year’s Bruins could resemble the fast-paced Ducks of the early 2010s – albeit not as star-studded or nationally relevant.

Predictions

Thompson-Robinson committed to UCLA before he even made a varsity high school start. He was a top-ranked recruit and national phenomenon prior to stepping foot in Westwood.

But in year one, the then-true freshman lost out on the starting job to Speight before the Michigan transfer went down with several injuries. Thompson-Robinson made seven starts – despite Kelly not naming him the day-one starter – and the offense he headed was relatively simple compared to his coach’s Oregon days.

That doesn’t mean Thompson-Robinson didn’t show flashes of his potential, however. He was the only quarterback in the Pac-12 with over 11.5 yards per completion and 6.5 yards per sack-adjusted rushing attempt.

With a simplified playbook catering to his inexperience in 2018, Thompson-Robinson already showed he was one of the best dual-threats on the West Coast. With a full year of practice, game experience and mental training under his belt, it’s easy to project a big leap for the Las Vegas native.

Thompson-Robinson is regarded as a middle-to-lower tier passer in the Pac-12 heading into the season, but considering his freshman completion percentage, yards per attempt and passer rating marks were all within 10% of Josh Rosen’s, it is far too early to label him a failure.

Instead, Thompson-Robinson could approach 3,000 passing yards and 500 rushing yards this season, assuming he stays healthy – think of a smaller, less confident Brett Hundley with a less prominent deep ball. His turnovers should be limited, much like they were last year, but his scoring numbers will undoubtedly go up with Kelly likely trusting the former top recruit in third-and-long and goal line scenarios more than he did in 2018.

With a better knowledge of Kelly’s system and the run-pass option at his disposal, expect Thompson-Robinson to make a difference through the air and on the ground this fall.