In March 2015, two incidents of bullying and assaults occurred in

Rowland Heights, California Rowland Heights is an unincorporated area in and below the Puente Hills in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 48,231 at the 2020 census. Rowland Heights is in the Los Angeles metropol ...

, with Chinese nationals as the perpetrators."

Details

On March 28, 2015, two Chinese nationals assaulted a 16-year-old girl at a restaurant and a park in Rowland Heights. On March 30, 2015, another incident began at the Honeymee, an ice cream parlor located in Yes Plaza on Colima and Fullerton Roads.Chang, Cindy and Frank Shyong.
Teens' attack on Chinese girl draws comparison to 'Lord of the Flies' from judge

. ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

''. July 2, 2005. Retrieved on February 18, 2016. The victim in this case was an 18-year-old girl. The perpetrators forced her to clean up ice cream smears and cigarette butts with her hand before taking her to Rowland Heights Park, located on Banida Avenue, where she was stripped of her clothing, slapped, burned with cigarettes, beaten, and forced to eat her own hair, which her assailants cut from her head. The attack lasted for over five hours.

Perpetrators and victims

The adult perpetrators of the March 30 incident were Yuhan "Coco" Yang (杨玉涵 ''Yáng Yùhán''), Xinlei "John" Zhang (章鑫磊 ''Zhāng Xīnlěi''), and Yunyao “Helen” Zhai (翟芸瑶 ''Zhái Yúnyáo'').華留學生施暴案三犯出庭拒認罪

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. '' Sing Tao Daily''. Retrieved on February 18, 2016. This article includes the Chinese names of the perpetrators. The other three perpetrators of that incident were minors.Niu, Yue.
Chinese students on trial in alleged torture of peer

. ''

China Daily ''China Daily'' () is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in China. T ...

''. June 15, 2015. page 2. Retrieved on February 18, 2016. Zhai and Zhang also participated in the March 28 incident. The victims and the perpetrators were "parachute kids", high school students from overseas who study in the United States without their parents and/or grandparents present. For this reason, California Judge Thomas C. Falls compared this incident to the events in the book ''

Lord of the Flies ''Lord of the Flies'' is a 1954 novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves. Themes ...

'', which told the story of unsupervised minors. The victim of the March 30 incident, as well as the three adult perpetrators,Niu, Yue.
3 enter not-guilty pleas in student-torture case

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''. June 22, 2015. Retrieved on February 18, 2016. attended the Oxford School, a private school with many international students. As of February 2016, John Zhang's father lived in

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

Trials and convictions

The adult perpetrators were arrested on March 31, 2015, after the victims contacted law enforcement. The suspects each had a bail of $3 million. The father of one suspect was arrested after he was accused of attempting to pay off a witness. The perpetrators were initially charged with torture and kidnapping. In California, being convicted of torture could result in a life sentence.Gonzales, Ruby.
Trio faces sentencing in Rowland Heights torture case

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. '' San Gabriel Valley Tribune''. January 8, 2016. Retrieved on February 18, 2016. The three adult perpetrators initially pleaded not guilty. Ultimately the three took

plea deals A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or ''nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendant ...

. On Tuesday January 5, 2016, Zhang and Zhai pleaded

no contest ' is a legal term that comes from the Latin phrase for "I do not wish to contend". It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense. In criminal trials in certain United States jurisdictions, it is a plea where the defendant neith ...

to kidnapping and assault by great means of force likely to produce great bodily injury. Yang pleaded no contest to these charges. For each person, torture and two kidnapping counts were dismissed as part of the plea bargain. The perpetrators were ultimately sent to the California state prison system. Zhai, represented by attorney

Evan Freed Evan Phillip Freed (born September 11, 1946) is an attorney and freelance photographer who traveled with and photographed the presidential campaign of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Freed was present when Sirhan Sirhan shot Kennedy. ...

, received a 13-year sentence. Yang received a 10-year sentence. Zhang received a sentence of over 6 years. The three adult suspects apologized for their actions while in court. Twenty-year-old Zheng Lu, who gave the other perpetrators a pair of scissors but did not directly participate in the attack, was arrested in December 2015 and received a trial separate from the other three adult perpetrators. In 2016, he was sentenced to three years in prison for his participation in the case. The juvenile suspects were sentenced to the juvenile correctional system. After the prison sentences of the perpetrators are finished, they will be deported back to China.

Incarceration

, Helen Zhai (CDCR #WF4268) and Coco Yang (CDCR #WF4267) are incarcerated at the

California Institution for Women California Institution for Women (CIW) is a women's state prison located in the city of Chino, San Bernardino County, California, east of Los Angeles, although the mailing address states "Corona," which is in Riverside County, California. Facil ...

(CIW) in

Chino, California Chino ( ; Spanish for "Curly") is a city in the western end of San Bernardino County, California, United States, with Los Angeles County to its west and Orange County to its south in the Southern California region. Chino is adjacent to Chi ...

. John Zhang has been released from prison.

Legacy

Some Chinese internet users supported the punishment since many similar bullying cases in Mainland China have not resulted in criminal prosecution.Hui, Ning.
‘Thank You for Educating the Scumbags China Can’t Handle’

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. '' Foreign Policy''. January 27, 2016. Retrieved on February 18, 2016.

References

External links

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中国留学生施虐案被告父亲：孩子错了应该受罚

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Sina Network Sina Corporation (, "new wave") is a Chinese technology company. Sina operates four major business lines: Sina Weibo, Sina Mobile, Sina Online, and Sinanet. Sina has over 100 million registered users worldwide. Sina was recognized by ''Souther ...

. January 23, 2016. *{{in lang, zh-cn
霸凌案章鑫磊律師費20萬

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. ''

World Journal ''World Journal'' () is a Pan-Blue Taiwanese broadsheet newspaper published in North America. It is the largest Chinese language newspaper in the United States and one of the largest Chinese language newspapers outside of Greater China, with a ...

''. October 29, 2015. 2010s in Los Angeles County, California Crimes in Los Angeles County, California March 2015 crimes in the United States