UCLA men’s water polo player arrested on rape allegation

A student on the UCLA men’s water polo team was arrested last week on suspicion of rape involving a female student in an on-campus residential hall, according to university police.

Hakop Kaplanyan, a redshirt freshman, was arrested without a struggle early in the morning on April 3, after the female student filed a police report about 10 p.m. on April 2, according to a UCPD statement. The two students knew each other before the incident, police said.

Kaplanyan, an 18-year-old Glendale native, has been suspended from the university but can appeal the suspension, the report stated.

[Updated at 7 p.m. Tuesday: In a statement released on Facebook Tuesday, Kaplanyan’s attorney said the student is innocent and plans to appeal his suspension.

The lawyer has not responded to The Bruin’s request for comment, but told ABC News that Kaplanyan and the victim were dating and had consensual sex.

He was released on a $200,000 bail and is set to appear in court on April 25, police said.]

The investigation is ongoing and police have not made any additional information about the alleged incident available to the public, said UCPD spokeswoman Nancy Greenstein.

Compiled by Erin Donnelly, Bruin senior staff.

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16 Comments

  1. They don’t release the victim’s information for her safety, but why not the same with the suspect? Innocent until proven guilty. If he ends up being innocent, his information and this incident will forever be available to find online

    1. Agreed. A very backwards system we have. I guess they consider word will spread anyways and someone will release his name eventually. It takes a collective effort to change the way things are done.

    2. The victim wasn’t arrested. It is standard procedure to have an arrested person’s name available to the public and media. The thought behind this is that the government can’t just arrest people in the middle of the night without the public knowing they have been arrested. Would you feel safer if the government could just arrest you at 3AM without anybody having access to that information?

    3. The rationale, for why in all modern societies they release the name of the accused, is for accountability of the government and the justice system. Secret arrests & charges exist only in dictatorships.

  2. It is a shame how society allows such defamatory remarks to be made about a person without adequate proof of what happened. I believe such libelous articles should not be reported without knowing the truth. Hakop will prove his innocence in court and this will all be over. Protecting the lying girl’s identity while putting Hakop’s name all over the internet is just not fair. Any girl can falsely cry rape after consensual sex with a star athlete for whatever her reasons. The truth will eventually come out

    1. You along with every other member of society who do not know the facts should think before you speak. You just accused a young woman who is a rape victim of lying for “whatever her reasons.” I can say based on my knowledge of the situation that Hakop will absolutely not be proven innocent and he will hopefully receive the punishment he deserves. I agree that none of these news articles should have been posted before a verdict is reached, but this is simply how the media works. Just to straighten the facts, you are wrong. The victim is healing and that’s what matters.

      Read the comments below. Think they have a case now?

      http://www.reddit.com/r/ucla/comments/1byugx/ucla_water_polo_player_arrested_for_rape/

    2. It’s a shame that there are people like you who view rape this way and shame the victim. Really, shame on you. And those who don’t understand what rape actually is, that knowingly fooling around with a girl who is too drunk to react qualifies as rape. Let’s stop blaming the victims.

    3. I’m guessing you know the word libel, but don’t totally understand its legal implications. This article does not state that he raped the girl. It reports that he was arrested on charges of rape. There is a sincere difference between found guilty of a crime and being accused of a crime. If it is true that he was arrested on charges of rape, this article does not commit libel.

    4. Real classy on your part. Unless you were in the room when the incident happened, you can’t be 100% certain that you didn’t just try to shame a rape victim.

      Even if you knew the guy well, people sometimes have dark secrets they hide. A nice, seemingly upstanding guy I went to undergrad with is now in jail for a sex crime – no one saw that coming.

  3. To those who automatically assume the girl is lying, just know that only 2-8% of rape accusations are false. Stop blaming the victim. Of course, most of us don’t know what really happened and can not give a conclusion now. But to assume that the one accused is innocent due to your utterly false remark that most girls would lie about their rape, now that’s just wrong. Google rape statistics for once and educate yourself. And “star athlete”? No one is above the law, no person has a right to hurt another. Have you read the news recently? This is Steubenville high school all over again.

  4. If he is proven guilty, then he should be punished to the full extent of the law. Until then, let’s wait for the jury to decide the verdict.

    I hope this doesn’t turn out like Brian Banks (recently signed by the Atlanta Falcons), who was accused and convicted of rape and served 5 years in prison, only to have the accuser recant her statements, exonerating him. At the same time, I hope that a rapist doesn’t get to walk free.

  5. I am a strong believer in karma and this girl will receive hers served on a large platter if she is making false accusations. He raped her in a residence hall and yet no one heard any screams and she has absolutely zero injuries. She was too drunk to have sex but not drunk enough to report it right after?! My heart goes out to this young man and his family. Innocent until proven guilty!

    1. I agree. He is not a small guy and if he raped her like they say, it would surely show. Yet she had no scratches? that’s a bit hard to believe. He did not do it and Hakop would not jeopardize all that hes worked for. my prayers go out to him and his family.

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