Andrew Alonzo
LV Life Editor
Liliana Castañeda
Arts Editor
A former University of La Verne student has been charged for making racially motivated threats and for posing as a victim of these threats, and an alleged racially motivated hate crime during spring semester 2019, La Verne police announced during a Monday press conference.
Anayeli Dominguez Pena, a 25-year-old Ontario resident, is facing charges including criminal threats, perjury, internet/electronic impersonation and six counts of filing false police reports.
In February 2019, Dominguez Pena said her backpack was found smoking in her car. She also claimed to be attacked by a person wearing a ski mask in the stairwell of the Vista La Verne dorms later that May.
These incidents followed a series of online threats against member of the student group Decolonize ULV, which had held numerous protests during fall semester 2018 to shine a light on their experiences of discrimination and racism at the University and demand change.
Dominguez Pena was one of the leaders of DCULV, and allegedly received a series of threatening emails, texts and social media posts, which were also sent to other members of the group.
“The threats were serious enough that after the first threat, the University made a safety plan for a couple different victims involved,” said La Verne Police Department investigator Robert Nishimura.
Some of Dominguez Pena’s threats used the logo of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and speech similar to the fraternity’s former president, in an apparent attempt to draw suspicion on the organization.
The La Verne Police Department found no evidence linking any fraternity members to the actions on campus.
University of La Verne President Deborah Lieberman said the University will take steps to improve inclusivity and diversity in the upcoming months by implementing discussion with staff and faculty.
“The actions of the accused, if proven true, threaten to undermine the sincere and necessary work we are doing as a campus community to address the very real issues of race and social justice that persist locally and nationally,” said Lieberman.
The police department’s investigation found that Dominguez Pena acted alone throughout the series of acts beginning with the 2019 car fire. The threats Dominguez Pena sent out began escalating to the point where ULV canceled classes on March 1, 2019, in order to address the threats and underlying environmental factors.
Dominguez Pena is currently being held in lieu of $136,000 bail in the Los Angeles County Jail. She faces time in prison as well as a fine if found guilty.
Andrew Alonzo can be reached at andrew.alonzo@laverne.edu.
Liliana Castañeda can be reached at liliana.castaneda@laverne.edu.
Liliana Castañeda, a senior communications major, is the Fall 2022 news editor of the Campus Times. She has previously served as editorial director, arts editor, copy editor and a staff writer.
What about all those “diversity training” course you were going to force upon your staff? And the ‘demands’ of Decolonize ULV….gonna take them seriously now? Who are the true violent racists on your campus?
Had her allegations been real, it would have been the actions of one racist white student or staff. So, the entire university needs to be reprimanded, re-educated by the Cult of Diversity and all the white people demoralized? But it was HER. A violent, lying and racist miscreant. So, how is the university to blame now? She’s THEIR student, are they not complicit, as implied had her assailant been a white student?
What changes do you make now…how do you teach inclusion to the students of color, and collectively blame them for the cowardly behavior of one of their own?
(It’s ok censors of lvcampustimes, you don’t have the honesty or courage to post this)
I hope this person who tried to use her race and political affiliation to benefit herself financially and academically strikes a chord with the public hungry for “stories/incidents” which allegedly create villlians out of thin air to which these liars can become poor, little victims.
Jussie Smollett, Anayeli Dominguez Peña….the list is much larger than we all realize because these people manipulate social media and prevailing public sentiment to tell stories which cannot be challenged with common sense without the person asking questions about validity being chastised (at the very least) or physically threatened by extremely biased supporters.
I AM JUST THANKFUL ANOTHER CASE OF THIS TYPE HAS GOTTEN MEDIA ATTENTION!!!
Maybe, the public will finally begin to question self serving stories from ideological zealots looking to get “hits” on a site and/or local fame/sympathy which just happens to forward their agenda.
I HOPE THIS LYING CRIMINAL SUFFERS THE FULL PUNISHMENT FOR HER CRIMES AND IS NOT LET OFF ON THE BASIS SHE IS A STUPID KID. IF SHE IS, SHE NEEDS TO ADD “I AM A LYING, STUPID KID TO ALL HER SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS!!!!
As Kojak famously said…” dont do the crime if you can’t do the time.”””
You all need to stop PREACHING “social justice” while committing RACIST crimes to hurt white people.
You are not about justice. You are only about pushing a false narrative and actually being RACIST yourselves.
Look up the definition of RACISM and you will find that leftists are the largest racist group in America today.
Don’t you feel any shame? You should all be ASHAMED.
Bet you don’t post this. You SJWs hate the TRUTH more then you hate Europeans.