In 2018, emergency dispatchers received a strange call from a remote valley in Riverside County. The caller was a 22-year-old student who said that she had been unable to leave her rural college campus for months while she was forced to work without compensation. She said she lived there with 300 others, dispatch records show, and that barbed wire surrounded the school.
The location she called from matched the address of Olivet University — a Christian Bible school set against the San Jacinto Mountains near the high desert town of Anza. Its entrance is marked by a grove of olive trees, but the more than 900-acre gated campus isn’t visible from the street; visitors must make an appointment to enter.
For years, the university and the teachings of its founder have drawn students from around the world, mostly from east Asia, seeking an academic experience rooted in Christianity. The promise of a U.S. student visa and a scholarship combined to make an unbeatable opportunity. But instead of feeling the sense of freedom they hoped to encounter in America, students described an environment where they were under near-constant surveillance and stripped of their independence.
In interviews with The Times, and in a lawsuit filed this year against the university, its founder, former president and others, several former students and employees from Olivet University and its business described a big brother-like atmosphere on multiple campuses where administrators prevented adults from leaving, they said, and forced them to work, sometimes for free.
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Tingbo Cao, left, and wife Qilian Zhou, from China, thought they would receive a tuition-free education at Olivet University, but were forced to work instead. They recently escaped what former students and workers have described as a religious cult.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
The university has faced multiple law enforcement inquiries, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations confirmed that an investigation into the university continues. No one has been charged in the probe. Former students and an attorney representing the lawsuit’s Plaintiffs say they have been contacted by federal agents in recent weeks.
Olivet has denied all allegations.
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“These allegations continue to be completely false,” Olivet President Jonathan Park said in a statement. “Every government entity that has looked into these claims of human trafficking hasn’t found anything substantiating their veracity.”
The university did not say which government entities it was referring to. When asked to clarify, Park said “the university has received no indication from any state or federal investigators that the school is even being investigated for human trafficking, let alone finding anything that has substantiated the veracity of these false human trafficking claims.”
He did not respond to specific claims that students were forced to work for little or no pay or that they could not leave campus without permission.
The suit filed in California by four students, including the one who made the emergency call, said they were forced to work at least 40 hours a week doing tasks that included manual labor and gardening, and that their only outing was a weekly shopping trip to a grocery store — chaperoned by school employees. Any other plans to leave the campus required written permission, the suit said.
“At all times while Plaintiffs lived at Olivet’s Anza campus, they were not permitted to come and go from campus unless they first received permission from an Olivet employee,” the suit alleges. “Plaintiffs were required to have a form signed by an Olivet employee authorizing them to leave the campus. Plaintiffs were required to explain where they intend to go, why they were leaving, with whom, and for how long.”
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The isolation added to their sense of being trapped. The university sits in a small valley of desert scrub four miles from the two lane highway that runs to the nearest city, Temecula, which is another 25 miles away.
Olivet University’s network includes extension campuses in Mill Valley, Calif., and other U.S. cities. It is not related to Olivet Nazarine University in Illinois or the University of Olivet in Michigan.
(Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times)
Some in the Anza community who spoke to The Times said they were unfamiliar with the university, beyond allegations they’ve read about; others who grew up in the area said they were wary of the mysterious campus less than 10 miles from the town’s main drag.
Darren Harris, an attorney representing some former students, said the lawsuit is on hold for a federal investigation. Harris said that he has heard from investigators with the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. The Department of Justice said it would not respond to questions related to an investigation.
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Harris said that his clients fear Olivet’s power and that one client pulled out from the lawsuit over fear and intimidation. Their hope is that their case is fully investigated.
“They were promised to attend school, basically for free, under the guise of a fully paid scholarship, fully paid tuition, books, etc. And when they arrived there, they were told that they needed to be put to work to pay for school,” Harris said. “They never got paid for those jobs. They were working under duress and if they did not agree to do so, they would have been dismissed by the university. Meanwhile the university set up their visas, set up their arrangements to come there and obviously set up their schooling and living conditions.”
The California attorney general’s office filed a complaint last year with the state’s Department of Consumer Affairs for the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education — the office responsible for giving Olivet authority to grant degrees — against the headquarters in Anza, one of its extension campuses in Mill Valley and a connected church in Los Angeles over record-keeping and regulations.
The accusation sought “to revoke or suspend the institution’s approval to operate,” DCA communications deputy director Monica Vargas said. “The matter will be heard before an administrative law judge at the Office of Administrative Hearings.”
A hearing is set for November, according to the OAH calendar.
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Olivet was founded in 2000 by Korean American pastor David Jang. Aside from its main campus in Anza, the university system includes extension campuses in Mill Valley north of San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; Nashville; St. Ann, Mo., outside St. Louis; and Sanford, Fla., near Orlando. A campus in New York lost permission to operate in 2022 after the university failed to meet state requirements for curriculum, administrative policies and working conditions.
In 2018, the Manhattan district attorney’s office charged the university and several of its executives for fraud and money laundering. Olivet University pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and to falsification of business records, court documents show. The university said it has never pleaded guilty or been convicted of fraud or money laundering.
The university system, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, reported $17.5 million in revenue and $80.5 million in total assets on its 2022 tax return. It interconnects with the World Olivet Assembly Inc. — a nonprofit connected to ministry work that reported more than $20 million in revenue and $85.25 million in total assets on its 2022 tax return. Those familiar with the Olivet network said it encompasses ecommerce businesses that include Amazon storefronts and has had connections to media.
Owners who founded the company that acquired Newsweek in 2013 were once connected to the university, for example. The relationship between Newsweek Media Group and Olivet was also probed by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and detailed by Newsweek, which has continued to report on allegations against Olivet under threat of legal action.
Olivet’s business entities have also been scrutinized in recent years. A complaint filed last year in Texas accused World Olivet Assembly and the university of opening multiple ecommerce accounts under various names and funneling funds back into the Olivet community. The complaint named Park as a defendant before he became the university’s president in June.
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The university system’s accreditor, the Association for Biblical Higher Education, put Olivet on probation for less than two years in 2020 and then placed the university under warning in 2022 until earlier this year. Neither the investigations nor the accreditation status appear to have affected university operations as records show that some campus branches were approved during that time, including the school in Florida — a move that troubled residents.
“Olivet is a Christian university, accredited and is in good standing with ABHE [Assn. for Biblical Higher Education], with a focus on training students for careers in missions and ministry,” Park said.
The university system is not related to Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois or the University of Olivet in Michigan.
The lawsuit’s claims that students were unable to come and go and were forced to work without pay matched stories from others once connected to the university.
Former students Tingbo Cao, 41, and Qilian Zhou, 35, arrived in the U.S. from China in 2011 to join the Olivet University community. For years the couple lived on the San Francisco campus — the school’s former headquarters — before moving to the Mill Valley location when it opened. Although they were promised scholarship money, they said that most of their time was eaten by work that university leaders required them to perform to pay for their education.
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With monetary help from their families, they said they loaned hundreds of thousands of dollars to the university in 2019. Years later, they awaited reimbursement, but said they received pushback from the university and didn’t get repaid until this year.
Cao said the university still owes thousands of dollars in interest accruing on the loan. The husband and wife said they have spoken to law enforcement about their experience.
Park said that the university has not received loans from students.
“This is simply not true,” he said.
The couple left the university this year with their young daughters. Zhou said that she and her husband decided to come forward because they believe they “will be safe” from possible intimidation or retaliation from the Olivet community if their story is public. Others who spoke with The Times anonymously voiced a similar fear.
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Zhou said that as a graphic design student at Olivet, she often spent more than 50 hours a week creating graphics and selling products such as crystals and T-shirts via online storefronts on Amazon and Etsy. She said she typically purchased the materials from China, but never saw money from the sales and was never fully compensated for her hours of work, which she had to do in addition to classes and a mandatory 5 a.m. daily prayer service. She said that her parents sent money, clothes and other resources the family couldn’t afford.
Money she did receive from Olivet typically went back to the university amid near-constant pressure to donate, she said.
Cao did similar work while studying for his degree. During the pandemic, for example, he said he spent 70 hours a week selling masks on Etsy on top of school work. He had only a few hours to sleep.
He said his stress was compounded by a growing concern that money he lent to the school in 2019, pulled from funds he received from his parents, wouldn’t be paid back. In 2022, he said that he had a stroke due in part to stress.
“I was overwhelmed,” he said.
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Another former student said she spent most of her time selling products like toenail fungus cream on Amazon storefronts, but wasn’t paid in full for the hours she worked. When her family raised concerns about the time spent on work, she researched the legality of what she had been tasked with and started to ask questions. After bringing her frustrations to a university leader, she said community students and faculty isolated her and that university leaders called her family and told them she had been “brainwashed” by outsiders.
“Suddenly, they were really aggressive,” she said. “I [thought]: ‘I’m not safe.’”
She left this year after nearly a year at the Northern California campus. She said she continues to fear retaliation.
Olivet University, a gated campus of more than 900 acres, is not visible from the street; visitors must make an appointment to enter.
(Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times)
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In an interview with The Times, one woman said that while she was never physically trapped in the way that former students have described, other practices made it difficult to leave the community.
She said that she and her husband were wedded in an arranged marriage. She said the practice was a common way to reinforce a member’s bond to Jang’s “Community” and make it difficult for members to leave, knowing that if they did, they would likely be separated from their loved ones.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous for safety concerns, said that she and her now ex-husband left the community years ago. She said that some of her family members were also connected with Olivet and that she didn’t reunite with them until they left.
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona), whose district includes Anza, recently called for an investigation into the university system.
“All colleges and institutions of higher learning must be safe environments for students, including those coming to America from abroad,” Calvert said in a statement to The Times. “In any situation where there are accusations of wrongdoing and mistreatment of students our local, state and federal law enforcement agencies must fully investigate.”
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The Department of Justice has not provided Calvert’s office with substantive information about the investigation into Olivet.
A California man was charged Tuesday after authorities say he brought an explosive device and other weapons through a security checkpoint at Sacramento International Airport.
Kimani Osayande Jones, who also uses the last name Jackson,attempted to bring an improvised explosive device, a knife and other bladed weapons, a torch lighter and zip ties through a TSA security checkpoint on May 30, according to court documents filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of California.
Officials believe Jones, 49, repeatedly called the FBI tip line to report he was being threatened and intimidated in the months leading up to the incident.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office bomb technicians safely removed the explosive device and tested its powder and fuse, both of which were determined to be “viable and energetic,”officials say.
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Investigators said the device had the potential to damage an aircraft and cause a loss of cabin pressure.
Jones’ other luggage, which had already been through security and loaded onto an American Airlines flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, was hand-searched and examined by a canine unit upon arrival, and investigators said nothing “illegal or concerning” was found.
Jones has been chargedin federal courtwith unlawful possession of explosive material at an airport. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
His attorney, Meghan McLoughlin, told CNN in a statement: “There is often more to these cases than the government’s allegations, and that the criminal process will reveal Mr. Jones’ story as well.”
Multiple cell phones and repeated FBI tip line calls
The Sacramento resident went through security on May 30 wearing a face covering and blue latex gloves, court documents say.
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When officers found the explosive device and other items in Jones’ carry-on bag, he told them he was unaware the items were in his possession and said “he would be okay with just discarding them.”When authorities informed him that explosive material could not simply be thrown away, he denied ownership of the backpack.
Jones also had five mobile phones in his possession. The cameras on each phone had been covered with painter’s tape, which authorities believe was intended to prevent his surroundings from being recorded.
One phone contained a 15-minute timer ready to start and another had a message from an unknown number on the screen stating, “we will be awaiting your call,” according to court documents.
An individual police believe to be Jones made approximately 13 calls to the FBI tip line leading up to the incident,beginning in March.
On May 24, the caller reported being followed to and from a doctor’s appointment and described what he said were threats and intimidation by another individual.
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He said he was “being coerced in sleep to say certain phrases through digital media” and described “hearing sounds coming through walls, window panes, or even outside, attributing the outside sounds to drones,” court documents say. The call was ultimately terminated because of its “nonsensical nature.”
On the day of the incident, the same caller again contacted the FBI tip line, alleging that several individuals were threatening him throughout the past year through “cyber means.” He also referenced exercising his Second Amendment rights while denying any intention to harm others.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office also noted it had prior contact with Jones, “wherein he had a history of being paranoid.”
Hilton, Becerra lead California governor primary results
Vote counting continued after California’s primary election for governor with just over half of the results in.
Although results from California’s primary election began rolling in on Tuesday, June 2, it could take days or even weeks before the final counts are certified.
“This is normal … We have a process that by law ensures both voting rights and the integrity of elections, so I would call on all Californians to be patient,” Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber said in a June 2 news release.
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The Golden State’s lengthy vote-counting process has “become a national narrative about California elections,” according to Thad Kousser, a professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego.
“In California, it takes a long time to certify votes, to verify the signatures, to then count the ballots; all of that process takes a while,” Kousser said in an interview last week. “It may take a while for us to learn who the top candidates who emerge are.”
Here are some factors behind California’s lengthy vote-counting process.
Mail-in ballots come with added verification step
With each mail-in ballot cast, elections officials must compare the signature on a returned vote-by-mail envelope to the voter’s signature on their voter registration card. Various factors go into determining whether the signatures match, including the slant of the signature, whether it is printed or written in cursive, and the size, proportions, or scale.
Vote-by-mail ballots were Californians’ preferred voting method in both the 2024 primary and general elections, with drop-off locations — such as ballot drop boxes and voting centers — the most popular way to return mail-in ballots.
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During California’s 2024 primary, more than 7.7 million votes were cast statewide, and 90 percent of those were mail-in ballots. This means election officials had to verify the signatures on more than 6.8 million ballots before they could be counted. For the November 2024 general election, 80% of cast ballots, or about 13 million, were vote-by-mail.
Reviewing conditional voter and provisional ballots
California also allows for same-day voter registration, also known as conditional voter registration. Voters who need to register, or re-register, within 14 days of an election can do so at their county elections office, polling place, or vote center. These ballots will be processed and counted after the county elections office has completed the voter registration process.
In addition to conditional voter ballots, there are provisional ballots that must be verified before they are counted. Voters cast provisional ballots for a wide array of reasons, including if their name does not appear at a polling place or if they’ve made a mistake on their ballot. After a voter casts a provisional ballot, it will not be counted until election officials have confirmed that the voter is registered to vote in that county and has not already voted in that election.
Vote-by-mail ballots can be sent on Election Day
Though state officials recommend voters mail their ballots sooner rather than later, state law allows vote-by-mail ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive within a specified window afterward, thereby extending the tallying process.
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For the primary, ballots needed to be postmarked on or before June 2 and received by county elections office no later than June 10.
California is, well, big
California is the most populous state in the nation. And, as of May 18, a record total of 23,155,447 Californians were registered to vote.
While not all registered voters are expected to have voted, county election officials estimate that more than 5 million ballots were cast statewide.
When to expect final results
Under state law, county elections officials are required to report the results for most ballots by June 15, or 13 days after the election, according to Weber. However, some ballots can take counties up to 30 days to count every ballot and then conduct a post-election audit.
State law requires county elections officials to report final official results to state officials July 3. State officials then have until July 10 to certify the results of the election.
California’s crowded, protracted gubernatorial primary is going to take a little more time to settle.
The race remained too early to call Wednesday morning with 50% of the expected vote counted, according to NBC News’ Decision Desk. Three main candidates — former Fox News host Steve Hilton, a Republican, and two Democrats, former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and billionaire activist Tom Steyer — are competing for two spots in the general election, with the candidate in fourth place, Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, running well behind.
Hilton had 27% support in the all-party primary with about half of votes still left to count, while Becerra had 26% and Steyer had 20%. Bianco was the only other candidate in double digits, at 11%.
In California, all candidates run on the same primary ballot in the primary and the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, move on to the general election.
It’s difficult to say when it will be clear which two candidates advance to the November general election, however, due to the state’s protracted vote counting.
And with millions of ballots left to count, other key races in California remain uncalled as well, including the second runoff spot to face Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass one on one in November, several House races that could help determine the majority next year, and more.
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In the governor’s race, all three candidates rallied supporters around the state as the evening drew on.
“We’re not there yet, but it’s looking good,” Hilton told allies. “It looks very much as if Californians really will have the chance to vote for change in November and take our state in a new direction, a fresh start for our state, which is long overdue.”
But while Hilton was narrowly in first place when he spoke, Democratic candidates were capturing the majority of the votes.
Becerra looked back at his own “underdog story,” from his immigrant relatives to his bid for governor, which took some time to catch fire.
“Almost immediately, he’s counted out, an afterthought, overlooked by many, outspent by a ton, even called along the way to drop out and save us the trouble,” Becerra recounted to his supporters. “Well, guess what? The underdog stayed in the fight. Like my parents, I never gave up.”
Steyer struck a hopeful note in his election night speech despite a deficit in the vote count.
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“It might take some time to figure out where this is going, we’re going to wait till every ballot is counted, we’re going to give democracy a time to work, and we know we finished really strong,” Steyer said.
Major battleground districts
GOP Rep. David Valadao’s district has been one of Democrats’ top targets for years, but two Democrats are locked in a close race for the second spot in the November general election against the incumbent.
School board member Randy Villegas, who won support from national progressives, has a slight lead over state legislator Jasmeet Bains, 30% to 26%, with less than half of the expected vote tallied in the 22nd District. Valadao is comfortably in first place.
And in Northern California’s 6th District, Rep. Kevin Kiley — who was elected as a Republican and switched to become an independent this election cycle, as he runs in another newly redrawn district — is bunched up in a tight race that includes Democrat Richard Pan, a former state legislator, and Republican Michael Stansfield. Currently, Stansfield is running ahead of Pan; they spent much of Tuesday night and Wednesday morning trading the lead, which could have significant general election implications.
Meanwhile, outside California, Democrats think they might be able to challenge for one of Montana’s red-tinted congressional districts this fall, after Rep. Ryan Zinke decided to retire. But less than 2 percentage points separate Democrats Sam Forstag and Ryan Busse with more than 85% of the expected vote tallied in their primary in Montana’s 1st District.
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Read more about Tuesday’s House primaries here.
A safe seat battle to watch
Plenty of other House districts in California — and a few elsewhere — still have unsettled primaries, but one attracted particular attention due to how nasty the campaign got.
In Southern California, where two Republican incumbents are facing off in one district due to redistricting, Rep. Ken Calvert has advanced to the general election, but Rep. Young Kim is still battling for the second spot. She leads Democrat Esther Kim-Varet in the race for second, 22% to 16%, with about half of the vote in.
Who will face Bass in Los Angeles?
While Bass is projected to advance to a November runoff in Los Angeles, it’s not yet clear whether she’ll face Republican Spencer Pratt or Democrat Nithya Raman.
Bass has about 37% of the vote to 29% for Pratt and 21% for Raman so far, with approximately half of the expected vote tallied.
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Speaking to supporters on election night, Raman, a member of the Los Angeles City Council, said that “tonight may not give us a final answer on this race.”
“Many thousands of votes will be counted in the days ahead, and we may not get an answer we like, but regardless of what happens next, nobody, nobody can take away what all of us have built together,” she continued.
Pratt, meanwhile, was looking ahead to a potential matchup with Bass when he spoke to reporters.
“Now I have five months to get deep into every community that hasn’t heard my message to make them safe,” said Pratt, a former reality TV star. “So I’m actually very excited, because I felt very rushed. It’s a big city, and I was not able to talk to as many people as I look forward to talking to.”
Bass also projected optimism, telling her backers, “We got a lot more to go, but so far it’s looking good.”
