Officer Valenzuela has also been charged with one count of assault with a firearm for allegedly pointing a gun at one victim.
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The Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division, which often investigates high-profile crimes, presented the case to the district attorney’s office.
The veteran officers, James Nichols, 44, and Luis Valenzuela, 43, are accused of sexually assaulting the women on multiple occasions between December 2008 and March 2011.
Some of the assaults even happened inside the patrol vehicle – prosecutors say the two officers would lure the women into unmarked cars, and drive them to secluded areas.
“People trust Los Angeles police officers and all law enforcement to do the right thing, with the realization that we deal daily with folks who are easily victimized by people with authority”, Beck said.
A fourth woman said she became a confidential informant for Nichols and Valenzuela and was forced to have sex with both officers multiple times. CBS News reports the officers would allegedly threaten further arrests if the women didn’t have sex with them. One of the victims approached police officers and said she had been assaulted by an officer, Beck said.
The officers could face life in prison if convicted.
The charges include rape under color of authority and forced oral copulation. Most of the alleged assaults took place while the officers were on duty, and some of them were perpetrated in their patrol auto, according to the release.
The two are scheduled to be arraigned Thursday.
Tammy Kim, one of the victims, sued Nichols and Valenzuela and the City of Los Angeles in 2013, claiming she was sexually battered when a drug informant.
Attorney Robert Rico, who represents Nichols in administrative charges of sexual misconduct filed by LAPD, said the officer has been relieved of duty without pay for two years. They ordered her to get in, the lawsuit sates.
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Prosecutors are expected to set their bail at roughly $3.8 million a piece.
