Social media influencer Ray Diaz is being held on $500,000 bail after he was arrested on Friday in San Diego on suspicion of sexual assault.
Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department took Diaz into custody after traveling to San Diego, the LAPD announced in a statement Friday night on Twitter.
“After a thorough investigation, LAPD detectives from the elite Robbery-Homicide Division Special Assault Section arrested 33 yr old social media personality ‘Ray Diaz’ for sexual assault in San Diego, CA, with the assistance of San Diego PD. Raymundo Diaz’ bail is set at $500,000.00,” the post read.
Diaz is a self-described entrepreneur, content creator and actor, with more than 3 million followers on Instagram. More than 118, 000 people follow him on Twitter and he has 304,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel.
His acting credits include the television series East Lost High, Sober Coach, and Lopez, according to his IMDb page.
Police began investigating the influencer after a video was uploaded to social media on July 5, appearing to show Diaz assaulting an underage teenage girl he was reported to have been dating.
According to Buzzfeednews, the footage was “posted to 17-year-old Angelica Salek’s Instagram account featuring a man alleged to be Diaz.” The video showed the man “verbally and physically assaulting” Salek, who alleged the two were dating.
The man in the video can be heard screaming and hitting her. The footage was deleted, but has since been shared across social media, including by YouTuber Keemstar, who ran it on the July 11 episode of his show DramaAlert.
Keemstar interviewed Diaz, who insisted he was not dating Salek. Instead, he said they were “acting” in the video.
On Thursday, the Los Angeles police responded after being tagged on Twitter, and said the department would look into the alleged abuse.
“The LAPD is aware of several social media posts related to a social media personality, alleging physical abuse and sexual relations with a minor,” the department tweeted. “We take these allegations seriously. Currently, the Department has directed a group of investigators to look into these allegations.”
LAPD Chief Michel Moore weighed in on the case following Diaz’s arrest.
“We thank the public for their outpouring of concern regarding this case. We are better when we share the responsibility of making sure every member of our community is safe,” Moore wrote in a statement shared to social media.
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