LOS ANGELES (AP) — A University of Southern California graduate student who police say is a serial sexual predator has been charged with drugging and raping multiple women as investigators look for additional victims, Los Angeles authorities said.
Sizhe Weng, a 30-year-old Chinese national also known as Steven Weng, was arrested Aug. 28, though the district attorney and police just released statements about the case on Wednesday.
Weng has pleaded not guilty to eight felony counts including forcible rape and sodomy by controlled substance or anesthesia, according to the LA County District Attorney's Office.
Weng was held without bail and could not be reached for comment. A lawyer for him could not be found, and the LA Public Defender’s Office didn’t respond to an email asking if one of its attorneys is representing Weng.
USC said in a statement Wednesday that it is cooperating fully with police and has taken steps to bar Weng from campus.
“Providing a safe environment for learning, teaching, and research is our top priority,” the statement said.
Detectives began investigating in January after receiving information from authorities about a potential suspect who plied women with drugs before raping them in Los Angeles, police said in a statement.
"Evidence was recovered at Weng’s residence that corroborated his involvement in drug facilitated sexual assaults of multiple victims dating back to 2021 and continuing into 2025," the police statement said. Investigators said Weng put unspecified incapacitating drugs in his victims' food or drinks.
Weng first enrolled as a doctoral student at USC in 2021, prosecutors said.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman urged any other potential victims to contact the police department's Robbery-Homicide Division.
“We want every victim to know that their voices matter and we will fight to ensure you are heard,” Hochman said in a statement.
If convicted as charged, Weng faces 25 years to life plus 56 years in state prison, the DA's office said.
FILE - A sign for the University of Southern California is displayed at a campus entrance in Los Angeles, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Pentagon has released the names of four of the six service members were killed in the Iran war, saying they died in a drone strike in Kuwait.
All four Army Reserve soldiers were killed Sunday when a drone hit a command center in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait. That was just a day after the U.S. and Israel launched its military campaign against Iran, which launched retaliatory strikes.
All were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command in Des Moines, lowa.
Killed were Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; and Spc. Declan J.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel said it launched airstrikes against Iranian missile launchers and a nuclear research site Tuesday, and Iran struck back against Israel and across the Gulf region, targeting U.S. embassies and disrupting energy supplies and travel.
Four days into a war that President Donald Trump suggested would last several weeks or perhaps longer, nearly 800 people have been killed in Iran, including some Trump said he had considered as possible future leaders of the country.
Explosions rang out Tuesday in Tehran and in Lebanon, where Israel said it retaliated against Hezbollah militants. The American embassy in Saudi Arabia and the U.S. consulate in the United Arab Emirates came under drone attacks. Iran has fired dozens of ballistic missiles at Israel, though most of the incoming fire has been intercepted. Eleven people in Israel have been killed since the conflict began.
The spiraling nature of the war raised questions about when and how it would end.
The administration has offered various objectives, including destroying Iran’s missile capabilities, wiping out its navy, preventing it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensuring it cannot continue to support allied armed groups.
While the initial U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Trump urged Iranians to overthrow their government, senior administration officials have since said regime change was not the goal.
Trump on Tuesday seemed to downplay chances of the war ending Iran's theocratic rule, saying that “someone from within” the Iranian regime might be the best choice to take power once the U.S.-Israel campaign is finished.
Speaking Tuesday from the Oval Office, Trump said Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s toppled shah, is not someone that his administration has considered in depth to take over.
As far as possible leaders inside Iran, “the people we had in mind are dead,” Trump said.
“I guess the worst case would be do this, and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person, right? That could happen," Trump said. "We don’t want that to happen.”
Iran’s leaders are scrambling to replace Khamenei, who ruled the country for 37 years. It’s only the second time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that a new supreme leader is being chosen. Potential candidates range from hard-liners committed to confrontation with the West to reformists who seek diplomatic engagement.
Information coming out of Iran has been limited because of poor communications, round-the-clock airstrikes and tight restrictions on journalists. But across Iran’s capital, aircraft were heard overhead, and explosions rang out.
The Israeli military said it conducted a wave of airstrikes on sites that produce and store ballistic missiles, in Tehran and Isfahan. It also said it destroyed what it called Iran’s secret, underground nuclear headquarters. Without providing evidence, it said the site was used for scientific research “to develop a key component for nuclear weapons.”
“The regime attempted to rebuild its efforts and conceal them, thinking we wouldn’t notice. They were mistaken,” said Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin.
There was no immediate public comment from the U.S. or Iran about the site Israel named.
Iran has said it has not enriched uranium since June, though it has maintained its right to do so and says its nuclear program is peaceful.
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site had sustained “some recent damage,” though there was “no radiological consequence expected.” The U.S. hit Natanz during the 12-day war in June, when Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran's nuclear program.
New rounds of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes rattled Iran.
“Since midnight, I and my wife are hearing sound of explosions,” said Ali Amoli, an engineer living in north Tehran.
Satellite images published Tuesday by Colorado-based company Vantor showed the domed roof of Iran’s presidential complex in Tehran had been destroyed, supporting Israel’s claim of an overnight strike. Iran did not acknowledge the damage or report any casualties.
A north Tehran resident who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation described growing fears in the capital as it comes under heavy bombardment. The resident said most stores in the normally bustling area of Tajrish were closed, though bakeries and supermarkets remained open.
An attack from two drones on the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire,” according to the Saudi Arabian Defense Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound.
An Iranian drone struck a parking lot outside the U.S. consulate in Dubai, sparking a small fire, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Washington. He said all personnel were accounted for.
The United Arab Emirates said it has intercepted the vast majority of more than 1,000 Iranian missile and drone attacks against it.
U.S. embassies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Lebanon said they were closed to the public.
The U.S. State Department ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The U.S. also urged its citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries, though with much of the airspace closed, many were stranded.
The State Department said Tuesday it’s preparing military and charter flights for Americans who want to leave the Middle East. Several other countries also arranged evacuation flights for their citizens.
The U.S.-Israeli strikes have killed at least 787 people in Iran, according to the Red Crescent Society. In Lebanon, where Israel launched retaliatory strikes on the Iranian-supported militant group Hezbollah, 50 people were killed, including seven children, Lebanon's health ministry said.
The U.S. military has confirmed six deaths of American service members. In addition, three people were killed in the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Tuesday criticized Iran's attacks against Gulf neighbors that had worked to prevent war as an “incredibly flawed strategy” that threatened to widen the war if those states decide to retaliate.
This story has been updated to correct that communications in Iran are poor, but that the internet isn't shut down. It also clarifies that more than one drone hit the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia. Some instances referred to just one drone.
Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim, Michelle Price and Konstantin Toropin in Washington, David Rising in Bangkok, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Hallie Golden in Seattle, Giovanna Dell'Orto in Miami, and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.
A firefighter extinguishes fire at a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A woman crosses almost deserted square with a billboard at rear showing a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the U.S.–Israeli military campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises from a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
An Iranian flag is placed among the ruins of a police station struck Monday during the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Jewish men covered in prayer shawls pray in an underground parking garage as a precaution against possible Iranian missile attacks, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A group of men inspects the ruins of a police station struck Monday amid the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows a F-35C Lightning II preparing for launch on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Monday, March 2, 2026. (U.S. Navy via AP)
Mourners take cover while air-raid sirens warn of incoming missiles launched by Iran toward Israel during the funeral of Sarah Elimelech and her daughter Ronit who were killed in an Iranian missile attack, in Beit Shemesh, Israel, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A worker instals a billboard on an overpass containing a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the ongoing joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke engulfs a street after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji)
