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Report: LAPD Officers Demanded Sex From Prostitutes, Informants
(Photo by Steve Lyon via the Creative Commons on Flickr)
One of the women accusing two LAPD officers of coercing her into sex says she was working as an informant for the duo when they threatened her with arrest.
LAPD officials are looking to fire the two officers after an internal investigation proved they pressured women to engage in sex acts with them in their car while they were on duty, sources told the Los Angeles Times. Police officials have remained silent on the issue thus far.
The woman, who first came forward in January 2010, told a supervisor for Luis Valenzuela and James Nichols that Valenzuela threatened to throw her in jail if she refused to get into the car, the Times reports. Valenzuela then got into the back seat of the car and exposed himself, telling the woman to touch him, according to the search warrant affidavit.
An almost identical claim was made by another woman a year later.
Records show the two narcotics department veterans preyed on at least four women over the course of several years when they worked in the LAPD's Hollywood Division.
Police Chief Charlie Beck has ordered discipline hearing panels that will determine if the officers are guilty of the charges and decide their punishment. Beck has declined to comment on the case because of the confidentiality of the proceedings. The officers have been suspended without pay while they await the hearing, the Times reports.
Nichols' attorney, Robert Rico, said there was no credibility to the case.
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