Former UCLA water polo player accepts plea deal for assault charges
Hakop Kaplanyan (center), 20, is accompanied by his lawyer, George Mgdesyan (left) as he waits to be sentenced. (Jintak Han/Daily Bruin)
By Shreya Maskara
Jan. 29, 2015 3:59 p.m.
The original version of this article contained an error and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for more information.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge sentenced a former UCLA water polo player to 180 days in jail and five years of probation Thursday after he pleaded no contest to one charge of assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and one charge of making a criminal threat.
Hakop Kaplanyan, 20, appeared in front of Judge George G. Lomeli in a Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center courtroom downtown, where he accepted a plea deal, pleading no contest in exchange for reduced charges. Kaplanyan stood up with his head lowered, and in a low voice told the judge his plea.
Lomeli sentenced Kaplanyan to five years of probation, 180 days in jail, one year of sexual assault counseling and 60 days of community service for Caltrans. Kaplanyan will have a strike on his record as a result of accepting the plea deal, but he will not have to register as a sex offender.
Police arrested Kaplanyan in 2013 in connection with what officials called assaults involving three women, including a former UCLA student, between late 2012 and early 2013. Before the plea deal, he faced eight counts, including forcible rape, false imprisonment by violence, possession of matter depicting a minor engaging in sexual conduct and a misdemeanor count of sexual battery by restraint.
Deputy District Attorney Linda Loftfield said the case involved three different women, but because not all of the three women testified and there was no forensic evidence, the DA’s office decided to offer Kaplanyan a plea bargain. None of the women came to the hearing Thursday.
“I hope that this plea agreement will help (Kaplanyan) be rehabilitated, and we hope that he won’t victimize any other women,” Loftfield said. “We hope this will help him and the victims put this incident behind and move forward.”
George Mgdesyan, Kaplanyan’s attorney, said Kaplanyan is disappointed with the sentence because he did not want to have any jail time. He added that Kaplanyan said he wants to put this incident behind him and move forward to continue pursuing his dream of playing water polo.
Mgdesyan added that the sentence came as a shock to the Kaplanyan’s family because they had thought he would not get jail time.
Kaplanyan plans to go to jail in early March. He was suspended from UCLA in early April 2013 and is no longer enrolled at the university.
Compiled by Shreya Maskara, Bruin contributor.
Correction: Kaplanyan did not plead no contest to charges of raping several women. He pleaded no contest to one charge of assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and one charge of making a criminal threat.
