Faces false imprisonment,
sexual battery charges
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego
Police Department on Sunday announced the arrest of Officer Christopher Hays on
charges of false imprisonment and sexual battery.
Hays, 30, turned himself in
about 1:30 p.m. at a sheriff's substation on Rancho Bernardo Road, per an
agreement between the District Attorney's Office, the San Diego Police
Department and his attorney, police officials said.
Hays was booked into jail on
suspicion of two counts of felony false imprisonment and three misdemeanor
sexual battery counts filed in connection with four alleged victims, all women
in their late 20s to late 30s, according to San Diego police officials and jail
records.
10News learned Hays bailed out
of jail at about 3:40 p.m. Sunday. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday,
according to jail records. Hays is currently on unpaid leave.
If convicted, Hays would face 7
1/2 years behind bars, San Diego police Lt. Kevin Mayer said.
If the allegations were proven
to be true, "this would be a termination case," said San Diego Police
Chief William Lansdowne
Last Thursday, Team 10 broke
the story about accusations of sexual misconduct against four women by Hays.
Four alleged victims told
investigators that Hays, assigned to the Mid-City Division, improperly touched
them through their clothing, with no "skin-to-skin contact,"
Lansdowne said last week.
Two other cases remained under
investigation -- one which involved sexual contact, Lansdowne said.
"He could be looking at
more charges with the fifth and sixth victim," Lansdowne said.
The most recently reported case
was being handled with the District Attorney's Office as lead, he said.
A fifth alleged victim stepped
forward with an accusation that Hays pressured her to perform a sex act with
him.
"What she's accusing him
of is oral sex to get out of a ticket," attorney Dan Gilleon told 10News
on Saturday. "That's what happened. She actually gave him oral sex back in
October of 2012."
Lansdowne noted that the
investigation into the allegations was thorough from when the first accuser
stepped forward in late December. Investigators also reviewed Hays' cases over
the past four years.
However, many of the cases
showed contact but no name, Lansdowne said.
Lansdowne said four of the six
cases have been filed as of Sunday. He said all of the six cases were spread
out over about a year's time.
All the cases were unreported
until this past week and the last one was reported to an attorney, he said.
It was the second time in just
under three years that a member of the San Diego Police Department has been accused
of sexual misconduct with female detainees.
In 2012, ex-Officer Anthony
Arevalos was sentenced to almost nine years in prison for demanding sexual
favors from women he pulled over on suspicion of drunken driving in the Gaslamp
Quarter.
