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A 41-year-old hair salon owner in Concord arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting at least one victim inside his business has been charged with rape, police announced Thursday.
Chi Ngoc Vu, owner of Chi Hair Salon on Clayton Road, was arrested on Monday for multiple counts of sexual assault, police said.
Investigators said a mother dropped her teenage daughter off at the salon for a three-hour hair treatment and she was raped by Vu. They added the incident happened in 2021.
“There’s a day in the salon that he works completely by himself and that’s when the suspected assaults occurred. None of them were suspected to have occurred when there were any other workers there,” said Sgt. Chris Souza with the Concord Police Department.
Vu’s coworkers said they simply don’t believe it. They added the Pittsburg father just isn’t capable of what he’s being charged with. They didn’t want to appear on camera and asked NBC Bay Area to alter their voices during the interview.
“I stand behind him 100%, 1000%,” said Vu’s co-worker. “He’s a very good person and he’s very wonderful with his clients. So, I don’t see him being like that.”
Vu’s coworkers are also questioning why it took so long for the girl to come forward.
“It’s ridiculous. After all this time, why is it happening now? When something like that happens, it should be brought to somebody’s attention right away,” said Vu’s co-worker.
Police say victims of trauma often don’t come forward right away. They added their investigation has uncovered more potential victims who aren’t minors.
“We were able to find through our investigatory means, ways to get a hold of some clients of this hair salon, who came and talked to us, and told us their stories as to what happened inside this hair salon, and we continuing to investigate their accusations against the subject,” Souza said.
According to police, the district attorney’s office has received the case and filed the following charges against Vu: forcible rape, unlawful sexual intercourse, forcible oral copulation, oral copulation of a minor under the age of 16 and lewd acts on a child.
As of Thursday, Vu was in custody on $275,000 bail, police said.
Police believe Vu may have victimized other people. Anyone with information to share is asked to call Concord police Detective Huffmaster at 925-671-5080.
JUST IN: Concord police arrested a hairstylist this morning at his salon on charges of rape and lewd acts with a child. Investigators say a mother dropped her teenage daughter off for a 3 hour hair treatment and the suspect raped the girl. They say there may be more victims. pic.twitter.com/47FYZct9lO
— Jodi Hernandez (@JodiHernandezTV) May 2, 2024