Oakland

Four Oakland Police Officers Fired in Connection to Sex Abuse Scandal

Seven other officers will be suspended without pay and an additional cop will receive counseling and training

Four Oakland police officers have been fired following a nearly year-long investigation into a sex abuse scandal, City Administrator Sabrina Landreth said.

Seven other officers will be suspended without pay and an additional cop will receive counseling and training, Landreth said.

Accusations against the officers who were fired include attempted sexual assault, lewd conduct and assisting in prostitution, according to Landreth.

Landreth made the announcement with Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf during a late Wednesday afternoon news conference to discuss the investigation.

"I am deeply sorry for the harm that this scandal has caused, particularly to community trust," Schaaf said.

The mayor said the discipline "sends a loud and clear message that we will hold our officers to nothing but the highest standards of professionalism and integrity."

Civil rights attorney John Burris believes further punishment is due.

"I’m hopeful that there are criminal charges because they should be prosecuted," Burris said. "We’re talking about men police officers having sex with a minor."

The 19-year-old woman at the center of the sex abuse scandal, Celeste Guap, said she has had sex with more than a dozen police officers throughout the Bay Area, which prompted the investigation. She has said some of those encounters took place when she was underage.

[[39211825, C]]

Schaaf said the investigation included 11 different interviews with Guap, 50 witness interviews and a review of 78,000 pages of social media postings and 28,000 text messages.

Last week, Guap was arrested for aggravated battery after she allegedly attacked a security officer at a voluntary rehab facility in Florida, according to an arrest report.

NBC Bay Area has confirmed two attorneys were on their way to Florida on Wednesday to try and secure Guap's release.

Over the summer, three Oakland police chiefs stepped down, or were told to step down from their posts, amid the sex abuse scandal.

In addition, the Oakland Police Department was involved in a racist texting probe, which caused two police officers to be suspended in August.

NBC Bay Area's Cheryl Hurd contributed to this report.

Contact Us