YouTuber Ray Diaz has been under investigation after a series of disturbing videos surfaced online. The first of the clips arrived on July 5, showing a man who appeared to be Diaz verbally and physically assaulting his underage girlfriend, Angelica Salek. The video was uploaded by the 17-year-old Salek on her Instagram, but was subsequently deleted. Diaz has been arrested as a result of the footage.
LAPD first tweeted about the allegations against Ray Diaz on Friday night: "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 LAPD later confirmed in the early hours of Saturday that the social media personality was, in fact, Diaz.
"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 Deigo, CA, w/ the assistance of San Diego PD," the LAPD tweeted. His bail is set at $500,000.
Ray Diaz has since changed his profile to private, although he still has over 3 million followers on the platform as of time of publication. He has over 300,000 subscribers on YouTube, but has not uploaded a video since April.
The first of the videos to surface online allegedly showed Diaz screaming, threatening, and hitting Salek. According to BuzzFeed News, the pair first started dating when Salek was just 16. Another clip show a man purported to be Diaz calling Salek a "bad person" while threatening to punch her. She is heard crying as he continues his verbal abuse.
Diaz has denied the allegations in an interview with TheHollywoodFix.com and said that the videos were part of their "acting lessons." Salek has since filed a restraining order against him.
"I was just so scared always because he would yell at me," Salek told YouTuber Keemstar in an interview about the situation. "It was my fault if somebody would ever have any suspicions that him and I were dating. He would yell at me for hours."
