7
Current and Former Bay Area Officers to Be Charged in Sexual Misconduct Case
(OAKLAND, Calif.) — Prosecutors said
Friday they will charge seven current and former San Francisco Bay Area
officers in a sexual misconduct scandal involving a teenager.
The wide-ranging scandal surfaced
when a teenage girl who described herself as a prostitute said she had sex with
about 30 law enforcement officials in Oakland and elsewhere in the region.
Alameda County District Attorney
Nancy O’Malley said she was waiting to formally file charges until the teen
could be returned to California from Florida, where she has been jailed in an
assault case.
The prosecutor said she needs the
teen to provide testimony in the case.
O’Malley said the officers who
will be charged are former Contra Costa sheriff’s Deputy Ricardo Perez; former
Livermore police Officer Dan Black; Oakland police Officers Brian Bunton,
Giovani LoVerde and Warit Utappa; and former Oakland police Officers Tyrell
Smith and Leroy Johnson.
The officers will be charged with
a range of felonies and misdemeanors, O’Malley said.
The teen, now 19, said she had
sex with four officers before she turned 18 and sometimes traded sex for
protection from arrest or tips about planned prostitution stings.
The Associated Press generally
doesn’t identify people who say they are victims of sex crimes.
O’Malley said she found much of
the conduct “morally reprehensible” but noted the actions of the officers on
social media did not violate criminal statutes.
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf
previously said disciplinary action has begun against a dozen officers,
including dismissal proceedings against four.
Seven will serve a range of
unpaid suspensions before being allowed to return to duty and another will be
required to attend training classes.
The Oakland department previously
said two officers implicated in the scandal had resigned and another killed
himself last year.
The department cycled through
three chiefs in 10 days in June after the allegations were first reported in
the media.
Six Richmond police officers and
personnel at other law enforcement agencies have also been implicated.
A Livermore officer who had been
on administrative leave resigned Thursday after seeing the results of his
department’s investigation.
No comments:
Post a Comment