Four Oakland cops are being terminated and seven more suspended without pay in the latest round of discipline resulting from the department’s high-profile sex scandal.
After the city finished investigating misconduct involving multiple officers and a young woman who goes by “Celeste Guap,” the punishment was announced Wednesday by Mayor Libby Schaaf. A 12th officer also faces mandatory counseling and additional training.
“The discipline we have announced today sends a loud and clear message that we will hold our officers to nothing but the highest standards of professionalism and integrity,” said Schaaf.
Guap says she’s had sex with 30 cops throughout the Bay Area beginning when she was 17.
Shaaf apologized for the damage caused, “particularly to community trust, which for many, was already so tenuous.”
The officers who were fired are being accused of attempted sexual assault, lewd conduct in public, assisting in the crime of prostitution, being untruthful to investigators, and failing to report a violation of law by not reporting a minor having sexual conduct with officers. Though the punishment is disciplinary and not criminal, some argue the officers should be prosecuted. None of the disciplined cops have been named so far.
Investigators spent nearly a year digging through 28,000 text messages and thousands of social media pages ever since Guap was named in an officer’s suicide note last year. They also conducted 50 interviews, Kron 4 News reports.
Guap, who is now 19, has reportedly undergone a total of 20 hours of interviews with investigators since Sept. 30, 2015.
The scandal has rattled several law enforcement agencies, including some with ongoing investigations, and is still ending careers. The Oakland Police Department is searching for a chief after three resigned either willingly or by force over the summer. (Related: Woman Behind Oakland Police Scandal Arrested In Florida)
Guap happens to be the daughter of an Oakland police dispatcher. She recently made headlines after being arrested for felony assault at a Florida rehab where she was enrolled for heroin and sex addiction treatment.
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