The woman authorities say is the victim at the center of a sex scandal involving several San Francisco Bay Area police agencies has been formally charged with simple battery in Florida after the controversial decision to send her to an out-of-state rehabilitation facility even though she is expected to serve as the key witness in the prosecution of at least seven police officers in California.
The woman, whose name the Los Angeles Times is withholding because she is an alleged victim of a sex crime, was originally facing a charge of aggravated battery in the biting of a security guard at a drug rehabilitation facility in Stuart, Fla., according to court records. If convicted, she would have faced up to 15 years in prison.
But on Monday, prosecutors decided to charge her with simple battery, a misdemeanor, dramatically reducing the amount of jail time she could face, according to David Lustgarten, an assistant state's attorney in Florida's 19th Judicial Circuit, who is prosecuting the case.
The decision to send the woman out of state for rehabilitation has drawn sharp rebukes from Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and Alameda County District Attorney Nancy E. O'Malley, who announced Friday there would be charges filed against seven East Bay law enforcement officers in connection with the scandal. O'Malley said she was forced to delay the filing of formal charges against the officers because the woman had been moved out of state.
Though his office has been in touch with Alameda County prosecutors, Lustgarten said the decision to file the lesser charge in Florida had nothing to do with the woman's status as a key witness in California.
"As any prosecutor who charges crime in this country will tell you, you go where the evidence takes you," he said. "It was not bringing me to believe I would be able to prove aggravated battery beyond a reasonable doubt."
Lustgarten has extended a plea deal to the woman, but he declined to discuss the terms. Calls seeking comment from the woman's attorney and a spokeswoman for the Alameda County district attorney's office were not immediately returned.
The woman, a self-described 19-year-old sex worker from Richmond, Calif., made national headlines in June when she claimed in a televised interview to have slept with more than a dozen Oakland police officers. She said some of the sexual encounters happened when she was too young to consent, and also accused officers of trading information about planned prostitution raids for sexual favors.
The scandal soon widened, and accusations were also made against several other East Bay law enforcement agencies, including the Richmond and Livermore police departments and the Contra Costa County and Alameda County sheriff's departments.
On Friday, O'Malley announced her intent to charge five current and former Oakland police officers with a wide array of criminal charges in connection with the woman's claims. A Livermore police officer and a Contra Costa County Sheriff's deputy, both of whom have since resigned from police work, are also expected to face criminal charges.
The charges include failing to report the abuse of a minor and engaging in acts of prostitution. Oakland Police Officer Giovani LoVerde and former Contra Costa County Sheriff's Deputy Ricardo Perez also will be charged with felony oral copulation with a minor, O'Malley said.
O'Malley said her investigation also uncovered sexual contact between the woman and police officers in San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties as well as the city of San Francisco, though she did not have jurisdiction to prosecute there. A spokesman for the San Joaquin County district attorney's office has said the agency is investigating allegations of misconduct involving the woman and a law enforcement officer within their jurisdiction.
Contra Costa County prosecutors have already declined to prosecute one Oakland police officer, Terrell Smith, in connection with a sodomy charge related to the woman's claims. Doug McMaster, Contra Costa County's chief assistant district attorney, told the Times last week his office has not received any cases it could prosecute in relation to the scandal. O'Malley said Friday that Smith will face charges of improperly accessing a law enforcement database in Alameda County in connection with the scandal.
The disclosures have caused Oakland to remove three separate police chiefs, fire four officers and suspend seven others in recent months.
In announcing the charges Friday, O'Malley said the controversial decision to send the woman to Florida had delayed her from filing formal charges or arresting the officers who had been named.
In August, funds from the state's victim compensation program were used to send the woman to Florida for drug rehabilitation. Her move to Florida was coordinated by a victim's advocate employed by the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office who is based at the headquarters of the Richmond Police Department, one of the agencies the woman has made claims against.
Richmond police have repeatedly refused to answer questions about the decision to send the woman to Florida, and a spokeswoman for the victim's compensation program said she was barred by state law from commenting on the case. McMaster has said there was nothing nefarious about the decision to move her out of state while she is a critical witness in the prosecution of seven police officers in Alameda County.
Calls to McMaster seeking additional comment have not been returned.
While in Florida, the woman was accused of being involved in a violent altercation with several security guards at a drug rehabilitation facility in Stuart. She bit a guard on Aug. 29, and attempted to solicit sex from Martin County Sheriff's deputies during the course of her arrest, according to a police report.
The decision to send the woman out of state has been heavily criticized, with some in the Bay Area implying a crime had been committed.
"That's pretty outrageous conduct. That's a material witness," he said. "That borders to me on obstruction of justice," said John Burris, the Bay Area civil rights attorney who negotiated the settlement that placed Oakland police under federal oversight in 2003. "I just don't understand how they could legitimately think that was a proper thing to do."
