East Bay public defenders to review cases by cops in sex scandal

The public defenders of Alameda and Contra Costa counties are reviewing cases handled by police officers and sheriff’s deputies accused of having relations with a sexually exploited teenager to see if their alleged actions impacted their work on the clock.

The East Bay defense attorneys said the credibility of the officers implicated in the widening sex scandal has been called into question, and the integrity of their investigative work is on the line.

Their reviews are part of the growing fallout from revelations that as many as 29 officers from police agencies across the Bay Area had sex with a young woman who goes by her online alias of Celeste Guap. She told KGO-TV that six were Richmond officers, and has said that four officers had sex with her before she turned 18.

Contra Costa County Public Defender Robin Lipetzky said the Richmond officers’ involvement in prostitution stings will be especially scrutinized. Jeff Chorney, a deputy public defender for Alameda County, said his office, too, will closely review prostitution cases.

Richmond Police Chief Allwyn Brown said in a statement that the matter has embarrassed the department and that he was disappointed his officers became embroiled in the misconduct allegations.

In a Facebook post over the weekend, the city’s mayor, Tom Butt, said two of the officers being reviewed by the Police Department’s Office of Professional Accountability were removed from posts that involved interacting with young people.

Lt. Andre Hill, a police spokesman, was taken off his role as manager of the Youth Services Division, and Officer Jerrod Tong stepped down from his position in the Police Explorer Program that exposes youth to law enforcement. Tong was also removed from his assignment as a school resource officer, the mayor said.

In addition to the Richmond police officers, Guap has said she had sex with ex-Deputy Ricardo Perez of the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office. He resigned last week after his role in the scandal was publicized.

The Alameda County public defender’s office sent letters to District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, Oakland police and the sheriff’s office asking for the names of the officers and deputies being investigated for misconduct in order to track down their past cases, Chorney said.

Lipetzky, of Contra Costa County, said the officers’ behavior amounted to a double standard being applied in law enforcement and “seems to fly in the face of what the county is trying to do” to prevent sex trafficking of minors.

“When you have a young woman who’s being used for sexual favors by police officers,” she said, “it really detracts from that message.”

Lipetzky said the sexual misconduct allegations raise questions about the integrity of the officers’ cases. If her office finds cases were tainted by the police being investigated, Lipetzky said, a range of judicial remedies may be sought.

Chorney said he hoped sex workers and their customers who had interacted with the implicated officers and deputies would contact his office.

“If there are other Celeste Guaps out there being detained and abused by law enforcement, I hope they feel safe about coming forward to the public defender’s office,” he said. “Even if there’s no pending criminal case, there’s still a problem.”