A monthslong investigation of a scandal that rocked the Oakland Police Department came to a head Friday when the Alameda County district attorney’s office announced criminal charges against seven law enforcement officers in connection with claims that officers had sex with a teenage woman.
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The Oakland police union says it is disappointed by the actions of a few officers linked to a sexual misconduct scandal involving a teenager and assured residents the majority of officers are hardworking and upstanding.
Most of the implicated officers work in Oakland, where on Wednesday Mayor Libby Schaaf said disciplinary action has begun against a dozen officers.
The teen 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.
“Anyone, particularly in a position of authority, who engages in sexual exploitation or inappropriate sexual conduct with a minor or a young adult will be held accountable if we have the evidence”, O’Malley said.
Sergeant Michael Andraychak of the San Francisco police said his department has an open internal affairs investigation, but no criminal investigation.
The Guardian andAssociated Press generally don’t identify people who say they are victims of sex crimes.
They include three current Oakland police officers and two former officers with the department.
“We want her back here where she is supported and safe”, said Ms. O’Malley.
If and when Guap returns to California, O’Malley plans to charge Ricardo Perez with one felony, oral copulation with a minor, and two misdemeanor counts of engaging in a lewd act in a public place.
On Aug. 29, the woman was arrested and charged with aggravated battery in Florida after she allegedly bit a security guard at the rehabilitation facility in Stuart, Fla., according to an arrest report filed by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.
Five of the officers are past or current members of the Oakland Police Department. She said she found no evidence that sexual contact with the young woman who goes by the name Celeste Guap occurred while she was 16, and she said there is no evidence that Guap ever met Oakland Police Officer Brendan O’Brien, whose suicide note sparked the scandal, in person.
Four counts of Penal Code Section 502, misdemeanors, knowingly and without permission, Conducting a Search of Official Criminal Justice Data and Computer Systems without an Authorized Purpose. For example, text messages and Instagram posts between federal police officer William Johnson and Guap appeared to show Johnson proposing to become Guap’s exploiter in order to sell her to others for sex.
O’Malley said those exchanges were “morally reprehensible” but not crimes. Her office was not told that Guap was being moved to Florida, and is prepared to pay for her airfare back to California.
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The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. “For these reasons we opposed her being removed to Florida”. “We are working diligently”. Some of these charges that will be filed are felony charges, which could bring up to three years or prison time with a conviction. Dan Black, a Livermore cop who quit yesterday, faces two misdemeanors for engaging in acts of prostitution and two more misdemeanors for engaging in lewd acts in a public place.
