Two Los Angeles Police Department officers have
been charged with repeated sexual assaults on
four women while on duty in their squad car and
elsewhere, prosecutors and police said on
Wednesday.
The veteran officers, James Nichols, 44, and his
partner, Luis Valenzuela, 43, were arrested on
Wednesday and were slated to be arraigned on
Thursday, with prosecutors expected to ask that
bail be set at nearly $4 million for each man,
according to the district attorney's office.
An 18-count criminal complaint filed on Tuesday
charges both officers with numerous instances of
forcible rape, rape by threat to arrest or
deportation, sexual battery and forcible oral
copulation, among other offenses.
The complaint says the two were armed during
the majority of the alleged assaults and that
most occurred while they were on duty.
Valenzuela was also charged with one count of
assault with a firearm for allegedly pointing a
gun at one of the victims.
If convicted, the two men each face a maximum
sentence of life in prison, the district attorney's
office said. They have been suspended without
pay since 2013, according to police.
The four women, who were not identified, had all
been arrested at various times by Nichols and
Valenzuela during drug busts, the D.A.'s office
said in a statement.
They ranged in age from 19 to 34 at the time of
the alleged assaults, which according to
prosecutors began in December 2008 and
continued through March 2011.
Prosecutors said both men had been assigned to
the LAPD's Hollywood division before they were
relieved of duty.
"Any officer that abuses the public's trust
is not welcome in the LAPD and we will
continue vigorously investigating officers
accused of alleged crimes and cooperate
fully with the district attorney's office,"
police Chief Charlie Beck said in a
statement.
The Los Angeles Times reported in 2013 that
Nichols and Valenzuela were narcotics officers
under investigation for allegations that they
sexually assaulted at least four women they had
arrested or used as informants.
The Times cited a search warrant affidavit as
alleging that after coercing the women to get
into their squad car with threats of jail, the
officers drove their victims to secluded areas
where one would demand sex while the other
kept watch. The affidavit said that in other
cases, the men acted alone.
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