4 Arrested in Alleged Assault Caught on Video

Four people were arrested and two others were being sought for the alleged sexual assault of a UC Santa Barbara student that was caught on videotape. A witness gave a tape of the Sept. 15 incident to campus police on Monday and it was turned over to Santa Barbara County sheriff’s investigators, authorities said. At least 30 students witnessed the alleged kidnapping and assault of the 19-year-old freshman in Isla Vista, a residential area near the campus. According to authorities, the 45-minute tape shows the man being given shots of hard liquor until he is semiconscious. On Friday, Santa Barbara City College students Matthew Blessing, 19, of Folsom; Charles Anderson, 19, of Colorado, and Patrick Mueller, 20, were arrested, along with David Rhodes of San Diego, for investigation of false imprisonment, kidnapping, administering stupefying drugs, sexual assault of an incapacitated victim and criminal conspiracy. They were held in lieu of $100,000 bail each.