Two Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers accused of sexually assaulting and raping four women while they were on duty from 2008 to 2011 were charged on Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
The two officers, identified as 44-year-old James Nichols and 43-year-old Luis Valenzuela, were charged with multiple counts of sexual assault which include forcible rape, rape under color of authority, oral copulation under color of authority and oral copulation by force. In a report by KTLA 5, it was noted that Valenzuela also faces another charge of assault with firearm for allegedly pointing a gun at one of the victims.
According to the DA, the assaults took place when the two were still working as partners under the Hollywood's division. The victims were aged 19, 24, 24, and 35 at that the time of the alleged assaults, which mostly happened while the two accused were on duty, NBC Los Angeles reported. The officers reportedly forced the four women at the back of an unmarked car and threatened them jail time before they maltreated them.
The allegations were first reported back in January 2010 when one of the four women told a supervisor that the officers stopped her back in 2009 and threatened to take her to jail if she did not perform sexual acts on them.
Another victim settled a $575,000 lawsuit against the city back in 2014 as she claimed that Nichols and Valenzuela arrested her in 2010 and offered to help her in her trial if she acted as an informant and had sex with them.
The two officers were suspended without pay for two years now as Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said that he could not fire a tenured member of the force without them undergoing trial. Valenzuela has been with the department for 18 years and Nichols for 15 years.
Beck added that the officers have not only disgraced themselves but also disgraced their badge and their oath of office, Los Angeles Times reported. "I am extremely troubled by what they've done," he told reporters on Wednesday. "It's a violation of public trust. That's what makes it so horrific."
Nichols and Valenzuela are scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday. The bail for Nichols was set at $3.83M while the bail for Valenzuela was set at $3.76M. If the two are convicted of the crimes, they could face up to life imprisonment.
