A doctoral student confessed to drugging, tying up and sexually assaulting three women.
Sizhe Weng, 30, also allegedly took disturbing photographs of their unconscious bodies in a series of attacks spanning several years.
According to a motion filed by Los Angeles County prosecutors, the Chinese national is accused of secretly sedating women with crushed pills and medical-grade sedatives between 2021 and 2024.
Investigators say Weng, who recently earned his doctorate in electrical engineering at USC, slipped drugs into his victims’ food and drinks before injecting them with the sedative midazolam using anally inserted syringes and tubes.
He allegedly tied the women with leather straps, sexually assaulted them and photographed their bodies in “sexually explicit” positions.
Weng reportedly described the assaults “at length and in detail” to Los Angeles police detectives after his arrest on Aug. 28, according to a motion filed by Deputy District Attorney Catherine Mariano.
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Police said they suspect more victims.
LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton told reporters: “Based on the investigation, we suspect there are more victims, and some of those victims may not know what happened.
“We are looking at patterns of activity and we have evidence that says there are other victims.”
Weng’s first known victim, identified as Jane Doe 1, was a childhood friend who traveled with him to San Diego in December 2021.
Prosecutors allege he spiked her drink with benzodiazepines and then injected her with midazolam before tying her up and raping her.
The photos appeared to show her “unconscious with a plastic dental appliance in her mouth that exposed her gums and teeth,” according to the motion.
His second alleged victim, Jane Doe 2, was a friend visiting from China, and the third, Jane Doe 3, was a classmate in his doctoral program.
The three were reportedly drugged, assaulted and photographed while unconscious.
During a search of Weng’s home, police found digital and Polaroid images of the victims, leather straps, syringes, red tubes and dental devices.
Investigators also seized a bottle containing a liquid that tested positive for midazolam, as well as several pinhole and snake cameras “that are believed to contain additional images and/or videos of the defendant drugging and sexually assaulting women.”
Authorities say Weng purchased the sedatives from a supplier in Germany.
He allegedly told another inmate in his bugged cell that he would return to China if released on bail, raising concerns among investigators since China does not have an extradition treaty with the United States.
Weng, who co-authored more than two dozen academic papers and worked in the lab of a prominent USC engineering professor, has been charged with rape, sodomy and sexual penetration through the use of a controlled substance or anesthesia.
He pleaded not guilty.
A judge denied him bail and set his next hearing for January 14.
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If convicted, Weng faces life in prison.
USC said in a statement that it is “fully cooperating” with police and that the student “had already been banned from campus pending the resolution of the criminal case.”
