Student honored for catching attacker

Wednesday, March 4, 1998

Student honored for catching attacker

POLICE: Suspect pleads guilty to assaulting CSO outside
Schoenberg Hall

By Nick Rodrigues

Daily Bruin Contributor

Aiding in the arrest of a criminal would not be considered an
everyday student activity, but access control monitor Ilyne-Syl
Deliquina was honored by the University police on Tuesday for doing
just that.

Oleg Bogdanov, who was already wanted by Long Beach City Police,
physically assaulted CSO Sarah Parga on Jan. 18 at Schoenberg Hall.
Parga said that she asked Bogdanov to leave the building and he
refused. When she threatened to call the police he attacked her.
Afterwards she was taken to the emergency room where she was
treated for bruises and lacerations to her face.

Soon after the incident a suspect composite was distributed to
the campus and on Feb. 6, thanks to Deliquina, Bogdanov was
apprehended.

"We consider people of this community as family. We have a
problem and we deal with that problem," said Police Chief Clarence
Chapman.

Nancy Greenstein, director of police community services, gave
praise to all the students involved.

"The system worked, and it shows that every student can make a
difference," Greenstein said.

Deliquina’s involvement with the perpetrator began before the
assault, during winter break. It was while working as an access
monitor at Rieber Hall in December that she first met Bogdanov.

Bogdanov had tried to get into Rieber. When asked, he said he
lived in Rieber, and Deliquina discovered that he didn’t. The
police were called and CSOs searched the building, but he had
already left. It did not occur to Deliquina that the man she had
just encountered could have attacked her.

"He didn’t look like he could hurt anyone, he just looked
strange," she said.

At that point there were no bulletins out on the suspect, but
Deliquina said that even if there were, she would have confronted
him regardless.

"I’m not a stagnant person, stress makes me move. It’s my gas,
it’s a healthy kind of stress," Deliquina said.

A few weeks later Bogdanov showed up again at Rieber demanding
to be let inside. Deliquina said that his story was believable
because he used and gave the same information as before. But again
access was denied, and Bogdanov was asked to come back the next day
to see the manager, to which he agreed. When Deliquina saw the
suspect on a third occasion, she said that she recognized him but
could not place his face.

Two days later, while in Sunset Village, Deliquina saw the
special bulletin posted by the police, "then it all clicked." While
recalling these events, Deliquina admits to being a little
frustrated.

"The first time (we saw him at Rieber) we did what we could, the
second we did not call the police because he was compliant,"
Deliquina said. "To know he was a criminal and to let him slip away
was frustrating."

A few days later the access monitor was in Rieber Hall Cafeteria
with some friends when she saw a man eating alone, and this time
she took a double take. Bogdanov had dyed his hair from brown to
blond.

"When I saw his face, I just knew it was him," Deliquina
said.

She automatically turned to her friend Jennifer Magana, an
office assistant for the CSOs, and said, "that’s the guy on the
poster, watch him."

While Deliquina left to call the police, Magana and her
boyfriend Michael Granvel watched Bogdanov.

"I was a kind of nervous," Magana said. "Knowing that he
assaulted someone, I didn’t want the guy to see me looking at
him."

After a while Bogdanov attempted to leave, so Magana and Granvel
asked the manager to distract him.

"I thought, Oh my God! He is walking out! But I didn’t want to
go after him," Magana said.

The manager asked Bogdanov who he was, to which he replied that
he was an assistant professor. Meanwhile, Deliquina was still on
the phone to the police.

"The minute I got off the phone I saw UCPD arrive," Deliquina
said.

Bogdanov was arrested immediately without incident. When asked
how she felt about her attacker’s arrest, Parga said,
"relieved."

"I was just glad that somebody had the presence of mind to call
the police," Parga said.

According to Sgt. John Adams, Bogdanov was tried on Monday where
he pled guilty to assault with a deadly weapon (his fists), and was
given three years probation with the conditions that he stay away
from the victim and UCLA. Adams pointed out that Bogdanov still has
charges pending from Long Beach.

Chapman praised the CSO program, describing it as a critical
part of UCPD that "serves as the eyes and ears of the Police
department."

"Sometimes (CSOs) confront people who are violent," Chapman
said. "Not being officers, they have not got the equipment to deal
with them."

After describing the events that occurred to Parga, Chapman
said, "We wanted to get this person."

Parga took only one week off from her duties after her attack.
She is described by her fellow workers as a "strong
personality."

"What happened to me is one of those things that happens
sometimes," Parga said. "I don’t want my life to be ruined by
this."CHARLES KUO/Daily Bruin

Ilyne-Syl Deliquina, a AFROTC member, looks on as police Captain
Clarence Chapman reads the certificate of appreciation for helping
to apprehend a criminal.