Editors Note: On Aug. 18, 2017, the misdemeanor charge of battery was dismissed and the record expunged.

The Thousand Oaks Police Department arrested a student at California Lutheran University on April 22 at 4 p.m. on suspicion of criminal threats and battery.

The student, identified as Kiran Reddy Paidi, is a graduate student at Cal Lutheran.

According to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Pressboard’s Crime Report, the “known suspect battered the victim causing visible injuries and threatened to kill him. The threats caused the victim to be in sustained fear for his life.”

Director of Campus Safety  Fred Miller said this is the first arrest of its kind at Cal Lutheran in the eight years he has been working for Campus Safety.

“The only thing I can tell is that police were called at the request of one of the parties,” Miller said. “It’s infrequent. People have arguments all the time. Rarely does it result in one party requesting the police to be contacted.”

According to the Ventura County Pressboard’s Arrest Report, the arrest was made on 60 W. Olsen Road, and the student was booked at the East Valley Jail with bail set at $20,000 for criminal threats and $2,500 for battery.

The arrest report identified Wei-Yu Chen as the victim of the two misdemeanors under California Penal Code 422 and California Penal Code 242.

According to the California Legislative Information website, California Penal Code 422 states “any person who willfully threatens to commit a crime which will result in death or great bodily injury to another person, with the specific intent that the statement, made verbally, in writing, or by means of an electronic communication device, is to be taken as a threat, even if there is no intent of actually carrying it out.”

The second act Paidi has been charged with, California Penal Code 242 states, “a battery is any willful or unlawful use of force or violence on the person of another.”

Chen is also a graduate student at Cal Lutheran and said he is in the same class as Paidi.

The Echo reached out to both parties involved but because of conflicting information decided not to quote the students. According to Paidi and Chen there was a dispute over a group presentation.

“Privacy laws prevent anyone at the university from ever commenting on whether we [the university] conduct our own investigations or take any actions in regard to student conduct issues,” Media Relations Manager Karin Grennan said.

Miller said if students ever witness a crime they should report it.

“Report it to us, give us descriptions. Report what they saw, not what they heard someone say they saw,” Miller said.

Paidi has not been convicted of any crimes but has been charged. Paidi’s court hearing will take place on May 6 at the Ventura County Superior Court.

The Echo reached out to the Thousand Oaks Sheriff’s Department, but they were unable to comment because it’s an ongoing investigation.

Staff Reports
Published May 6th, 2015
Updated May 14, 2015