Los Angeles police officers charged with sexual assault
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/17/us/la-police-officers-sexual-assault-charges/index.html
Two Los Angeles police officers who once worked as partners patrolling the streets of Hollywood have been charged with sexually assaulting four women they encountered while on duty, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Officers James Nichols, 44, and Luis Valenzuela, 43, are charged with multiple counts of sexual assault, including rape under color of authority, according to a criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The alleged assaults in some cases took place while the officers were on duty, according to prosecutors, including in their police car. Valenzuela is accused of pointing a gun at one of the victims.
"These two officers have disgraced themselves. They've disgraced this badge. They've disgraced this office," Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck said at a news conference.
The officers, who were arrested early Wednesday, were not immediately available for comment. They were expected to be arraigned Thursday morning. Lawyers who represent them on pending administrative charges of sexual misconduct said they had not yet reviewed the criminal complaint, but said if the allegations were the same, the officers denied them.
Each of the women had at one point been arrested by the officers during "narcotics-related" investigations, according to prosecutors.
The alleged assaults occurred between December 2008, when the officers first became partners, and March 2011. The alleged victims were ages 19, 24, 25 and 34 at the time.