Prosecutors to charge UCLA student commissioner with sexual battery

Los Angeles city prosecutors say they plan to charge a student government commissioner at UCLA with three counts of sexual battery, one count of false imprisonment and one count of battery.

Omar Arce, 21, was arrested early Wednesday by university police after a female student accused the student government commissioner of sexually assaulting her over the last several months, said UCLA police spokeswoman Nancy Greenstein.

If convicted, Arce faces up to 4½ years in prison, according to the Los Angles city attorney’s office. He is being held on a $50,000 bond.

Arce was initially arrested on suspicion of false imprisonment, but the city attorney’s office said it planned to also add the battery charges when he is arraigned in court Friday.

Arce heads the UCLA Undergraduate Students Assn.’s Community Service Commission, which oversees 23 student-run community service projects involving more than 2,000 students. It’s the largest student-run, student-initiated community service organization in the nation, according to the commission’s website.

The program focuses on bringing social change and understanding to the greater Los Angeles and Tijuana communities.

Student association President John Joanino, who announced Arce’s arrest, said in a statement that the work of his office wouldn’t stop.

”The CSC is comprised of resilient students dedicated to service, civic engagement and community empowerment,” Joanino said.

He said he would work to ensure “the office continues to run smoothly and that this incident does not affect or jeopardize the tireless work of the CSC’s staff members.”

Arce immigrated to the United States from Mexico when he was 12, according to his biography on the UCLA website. Arce found his calling in service and began tutoring kids in Mid-City his freshman year and said he wants UCLA to become the most service-minded college in the nation.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

Twitter: @josephserna