Sizhe Weng Charged With Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assault

Sizhe Weng, a 30-year-old former University of Southern California doctoral student also known as Steven Weng, was arrested in August 2025 and charged with eight felony counts in a Los Angeles sexual assault case alleging he drugged and raped three women between 2021 and 2024. He pleaded not guilty, is being held without bail at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, and faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life plus 56 years in state prison, along with mandatory lifetime sex offender registration if convicted on all counts.¹

The Eight Felony Counts

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed the charges under case number 25CJCF05617: one count of forcible rape, one count of rape by controlled substance, two counts of sodomy by controlled substance or anesthesia, and four counts of sexual penetration by controlled substance or anesthesia.¹ Prosecutors allege Weng incapacitated three women by placing drugs in their food or drinks before assaulting them. Deputy District Attorney Catherine Mariano of the Sex Crimes Division is handling the prosecution.²

How Investigators Built the Case

The LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division opened its investigation in January 2025 after a tip from German authorities, who had identified Weng as a potential suspect in a series of similar assaults in Germany. The FBI and the German Federal Criminal Police cooperated with LAPD on the inquiry.³

Weng was arrested on August 28, 2025. LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton said evidence seized under a search warrant at his residence “corroborated his involvement in drug-facilitated sexual assaults of multiple victims, dating back to 2021 and continuing into 2025.”⁴

After his arrest, Weng confessed to detectives, describing the assaults on three victims “at length and in detail,” according to a prosecution motion filed September 2, 2025. The three victims reportedly included two friends from China and a classmate from his doctoral program at USC.⁵

Court filings reported by the Los Angeles Times describe Weng admitting to several methods of incapacitating victims: crushing benzodiazepine pills into powder and mixing them into food or drinks; injecting midazolam, a surgical sedative he allegedly obtained from a supplier in Germany, rectally using syringes and tubing; and holding sevoflurane-soaked towels over victims’ noses and mouths to keep them unconscious. He also allegedly admitted to restraining unconscious victims with leather straps, posing them, and recording the assaults with pinhole cameras, snake cameras, and other devices.⁶

Investigators recovered a medicine bottle that tested positive for midazolam, syringes, red tubing, leather straps, dental mouth devices, sexually explicit Polaroid images of the three victims, and flash memory cards believed to contain additional images and videos. Authorities also captured audio from recording equipment inside Weng’s jail cell in which he discussed plans to flee to China if released on bail.⁶

Where the Case Stands

Weng was arraigned on September 2, 2025, at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles and pleaded not guilty to all eight counts. The court granted the prosecution’s request to hold him without bail.³ A preliminary hearing is scheduled for January 14, 2026, in Department 31 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.¹

Investigators Believe There Are More Victims

Authorities say the three identified women are unlikely to be the only victims. “We suspect there are more victims, and some of those victims may not know what happened,” Deputy Chief Hamilton said. Investigators believe the flash memory cards and electronic devices seized from Weng’s residence contain images and videos involving additional women.⁶

District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman urged anyone with information to come forward “whether you live locally or abroad.”¹ The LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division can be reached at (213) 486-6890, and anonymous tips can be submitted to L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.³

Weng’s Connection to USC

Weng was born on August 16, 1995. He earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from USC in 2020 and enrolled in the university’s doctoral program in electrical engineering that August.⁷ He worked as a research assistant at USC’s Cronin Research Lab and began serving as a teaching assistant in 2023, a role that put him in contact with dozens of undergraduate and graduate students.⁸

USC’s Response

USC said it has been “fully cooperating with the Los Angeles Police Department in this matter” and has barred Weng from campus pending resolution of the case. The university said it had not received any reports from individuals potentially affected by the alleged assaults and, citing student privacy laws, declined to discuss the case further.³⁸

1
Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. USC PhD Graduate Charged With Multiple Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assaults
2
The National Desk. Former Doctoral Student Charged With Drugging and Raping Multiple Women
3
ABC7. USC Grad Student Accused of Drugging and Raping Three Women Over Several Years
4
NBC Los Angeles. USC PhD Student Charged in Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assaults
5
People. PhD Student Charged With Rape Allegedly Confessed Before Pleading Not Guilty
6
Los Angeles Times. Horrific Details Emerge as USC Grad Student Confesses to Police
7
People. USC PhD Student Accused of Drugging and Raping Students Over Three Years
8
USC Annenberg Media. Former USC Student Charged With Eight Felony Counts of Sexual Assault