A couple years ago, UC Irvine and the entire University of California system were dealing with “unwanted touching” allegations against UCI student Jesse Cheng, who eventually resigned as the UC student representative on the UC Board of Regents over the controversy. Those seem like the good ol' days now that Orange County law enforcement is dealing with a UCI student accused of assaulting two people, battering two others, exposing himself and brandishing a fake gun in a residence hall.
Jesse Cheng, UC Student Regent, Resigns
Andrei Tatuiko, 18, allegedly: exposed himself to others twice in UCI's Lorien residence hall on Oct. 1; battered a female there Oct. 2; strangled one person and pinned another to the ground on Oct. 3; and battered someone else Oct. 4. Campus police have declined to indicate whether any of the victims are UCI students or staffers, but Tatuiko has been charged with multiple counts of battery, assault and aggravated assault.
He pleaded not guilty at arraignment on Oct. 11 in Orange County Superior Court. The Los Angeles Times reports Tatuiko posted a $50,000 bond and was released from jail early Saturday.
It's worth noting Lorien hall is not far from UCI's Henry Samueli School of Engineering. Tatuiko's Facebook page indicates he studies computer engineering in that school, is in an “open relationship” and hails from Nakhodka, a port city in Primorsky Krai, Russia.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.