Former LAPD officers James Christopher Nichols, 44, and Luis Gustavo Valenzuela, 43, were charged Wednesday for multiple counts of rape while on duty from 2008 to 2011. Both men used their badges while on duty to manipulate and take advantage of women who were suspects into preforming sexual acts. They then threatened to put them in jail if the victims refused or confessed, according to The Washington Post.
The trial for these charges began in 2010, when a woman came forward claiming that she was sexually assaulted and threatened by both cops.
Both former officers were reportedly driving a undercover Volkswagen Jetta when they approached the woman while walking her dog. They encouraged her to climb into the car with them. Officers then drove the Jetta to a secluded area and raped this woman, according to The Washington Post.
These forceful sexual acts continued on to three other women, all previously arrested by the two cops during narcotics-related offences, prosecutors said, according to NY Daily News. At the time the assaults took place, the victims were 19, 24, 25 and 34 years of age. All four women have filed civil rights law suits against the officers.
"These women were drug users, they're primarily arrested and in custody, in an extremely vulnerable state," said Dennis Chang, an attorney who represented two of the women.
Valenzuela is also charged with one account of assault with a firearm after threatening a victim by pointing a gun at them.
Both officers have denied all the claims. Charlie Beck, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, said at a news conference on Wednesday that both officers have been suspended without pay since 2013, according to The Daily Mail. "These officers have disgraced themselves, they disgraced this badge, they disgraced their oaths of office," he said.
Further investigation into more potential victims is ongoing.
