Rich Chinese Students Sent to Prison for Attacks on Classmate

Three Chinese students were sentenced Wednesday to state prison for kidnapping another Chinese student in Rowland Heights and taking her to a park, where the 18-year-old woman was stripped naked, beaten and burned with cigarettes over a period of more than five hours.

Yunyao Zhai, 18, was sentenced to 13 years behind bars, while Yuhan Yang, 19, was ordered to spend 10 years in prison, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Zhai and Yang are both women.

A male co-defendant, Xinlei Zhang, 19, was sentenced to six years in state prison.

Zhai, Yang and Zhang kidnapped the victim last March and took her to Rowland Heights Country Park, where she was stripped, repeatedly beaten, spat upon, kicked and burned with cigarettes, according to Deputy District Attorney Casey Jarvis.

Zhang provided scissors to cut the young woman’s hair, which she was then forced to eat, the prosecutor said.

Sheriff’s officials said the attack likely stemmed from a dispute over a boy.

Two days earlier, Zhai and Zhang assaulted a 16-year-old girl at a Rowland Heights park and restaurant in an attack in which Zhai punched and slapped the teen, according to Jarvis. That attack was believed to have occurred because Zhai believed the victim disrespected her, according to sheriff’s officials.

Both victims -- who were also “parachute kids” -- alerted law enforcement about the attacks.

According to the defense attorney for Yang, the three defendants -- and the victim -- are from a large subset of foreign students dubbed “parachute kids,” or children sent alone to study here from China.

“They are (figuratively) dropping these kids out of an airplane in the middle of Los Angeles and they float down and land ... with no supervision,” Rayford Fountain told Patch last year.

He said this case concerns him because he does not understand the seeming mob mentality that led his client to participate.

“The question that any reasonable person would ask, is, why?” Fountain said. “This is a case that disturbs me.”

Zhai and Zhang were arrested last March, while Yang was arrested in mid- April. All three have remained behind bars since then.

Zhai, Yang and Zhang each pleaded no contest Jan. 5 to kidnapping and assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, with Zhai and Yang admitting an allegation that she personally inflicted great bodily injury, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Fountain said once the teens have served their time, they will be deported to China

Fountain, told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune after the sentencing that the case should serve as a warning to parents in China.

“Well-meaning parents of China should not send kids here alone and unsupervised,” Fountain said. “It is a recipe for disaster.”

-- Patch Editor Mirna Alfonso and City News Service contributed to this report.