Students testify against fake Uber driver assaulter

Author

Carly Heltzel
March 14, 2025

Good morning. It’s Friday, and I’m reading about “Stick Nation,” a movement dedicated to nature’s original toys. Onto the five Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Two third-year students testified in court against the former Cal Poly custodian charged with sexually assault while posing as an Uber driver. The first student testified, in tears, that he took off her clothes, performed oral sex on her, tried to have vaginal sex then forced her to perform oral sex on him. The second student said he locked the doors while repeatedly asking her to have sex with him for $10,000, kiss him for $5,000 or take off her shoes and socks, which she did out of desperation, before he put his mouth on her toes. After both incidents, he handed the students fake cash to stay quiet.

2.

Hikers beware. Police warned residents of two recent smash-and-grab car burglaries that occurred at SLO’s trailheads. Officials advised hikers to leave valuables at home if you’re planning to hike and said that police “can’t be everywhere at once,” so the onus is on you. One of the recent burglaries was at Cerro San Luis’s Fernandez Road trailhead and the other at Bishop Peak’s Patricia Drive trailhead.

3.

What does it take to expand a highway? In a refreshing bout of transparency, Caltrans released a report detailing the relocations of 290 homes and 280 businesses to expand Interstate 5 in LA County. Of the 13 projects that forced 620 total statewide relocations, 96% of them were a result of the I-5 expansion in LA. What’s more, the relocations disproportionately affected people of color and uprooted communities. “To lose our place where we raised our kids, it just hurts her to talk about it,” one person who relocated said.

4.

California’s wine market is in chaos after President Trump threatened to impose a 200% tariff on all European alcohol. No one knows how seriously to treat his word after the whiplash from his back-and-forth on Canada and Mexico’s blanket 25% tariffs. But as the EU moves forward with a 50% tariff on American-made whiskey, nobody knows exactly what will happen. But if the 200% tariff does see the light of day, the domestic industry isn’t jazzed. “It won’t help our sales,” one california wine producer said. “It would only hurt the consumer.” 

5.

The guy who was selling Anti-Money Laundering Bitcoin just got convicted on money laundering. Investors lost over $2 million as he lied about the viability, market state and that the panama canal was going to start accepting Bitcoin from passing ships. The “anti-money laundering” part of the cryptocurrency claimed to use “biometric technologies” to stop fraud. Meanwhile, the boss was funneling investments through several bank accounts before spending it on Texas properties and luxury cars.