CONCORD — The preliminary hearing for a local barber accused of raping two women has been postponed, but authorities recently publicly revealed new details that led to his arrest, after a teen girl came forward.
Chi Vu, 41, has been charged with forcible rape, oral copulation, sodomy and committing lewd acts upon a child. He is accused of raping a then 14-year-old girl and a woman in two separate incidents, though police say they talked to another woman who accused him of rubbing his genitals on her through his pants, and two others who said he appeared aroused while massaging them inside his locked business, court records show.
Vu has bailed out of jail. His preliminary hearing — where prosecutors present evidence and a judge decides if there is enough to justify the charges — was supposed to take place on Oct. 16, but it has been postponed to a date to-be-determined, records show.
But authorities have now revealed that the girl reported Vu’s alleged conduct to Concord police in 2023, stating that during a 2021 hair appointment, Vu locked the door, made comments about her body and sexually assaulted her. She claimed he had a condom at the ready near his cash register and that he locked the two of them inside, ostensibly due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Vu owned his own business, Chi Hair Salon, on the 4700 block of Clayton Road in Concord. The business is now listed as “temporarily closed” online, but has a 4.8-star rating on Google despite the pending sexual assault case.
Vu was 37 when he allegedly sexually assaulted the girl. After she came forward, police were able to locate a second alleged victim, a woman, who told a similar story. They also located a report from 2021 where a woman claimed that Vo had locked them in during a hair appointment, offered her a massage, then began rubbing his erection on her arm, through his pants, authorities said.
Vu was arrested and charged last April, and posted bail soon after his arrest, records show. He has pleaded not guilty. If he is held to answer at his preliminary hearing, a trial date will be set.
After the girl came forward, police hatched a plan. They asked a family member to call Vu and confront him with a story that the girl had gotten pregnant due to the sexual assault. Vu allegedly did not directly deny anything, but “nervously” laughed when the man accused him.
“I don’t recall that,” Vu allegedly told the girl’s family member throughout the call.
