Posted May 25, 2016 4:35 PM ET; Last updated June 13, 2016 9:12 PM ET
Underage: Celeste Guap (below) started having sex with Officer Brendan O'Brien (above) in 2015 when she was underage, after he saved her from her pimp. He was the first of 21 police officers she would have sex with.
[Last updated June 14, 2016 7:08 PM ET]
[From article]
The Oakland police sex scandal is ricocheting across the East Bay as the woman at the center of it now says she had sex with two dozen current and former officers from five departments -- from Richmond to Livermore. And sources say that Oakland police's botched handling of the investigation is what precipitated Chief Sean Whent's sudden departure this week at the behest of the federal monitor overseeing the department.
[. . .]
Guap, whose real name this paper won't publish because she met the officers as an exploited minor caught up in sex work, said she didn't lie about her age to them.
"A lot knew I was underage because they nicknamed me 'juve,' which is short for juvenile," she said.
In perhaps the most surprising allegation -- one that might help explain Whent's sudden dismissal as chief -- Guap said she also talked via Facebook last June to his wife, Julia Whent.
[. . .]
Julia Whent, she said, knew "I was dating an officer" but never asked if she was underage. Those conversations occurred months before the department's federal overseer, Robert Warshaw, became aware of the allegations.
Multiple sources said Warshaw pressured Whent to resign on Thursday, furious over his handling of the case. No one answered the door at Whent's home in Brentwood on Saturday afternoon.
[. . .]
The scandal is a crippling blow to a department that has struggled for decades to win the trust of residents and has been under federal oversight for 13 years in part because of failures to adequately hold officers accountable for misdeeds.
"To think that officers were engaged in the sexual exploitation of a child: It's heartbreaking," City Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney said. "And if it's true, it's criminal, and they should be prosecuted."
Mayor Libby Schaaf, whom council members are criticizing for not informing them of the allegations, first reported by the East Bay Express, did not return phone calls on Saturday. In a statement, Schaaf, who last month asked Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley to investigate the case, said she would not disclose details of an ongoing investigation, which could "impede our ability to reach the truth and secure the strongest judgments against those responsible." Oakland last month placed four officers on leave in connection with Guap's allegations, two of whom have since resigned.
Other departments now appear to be caught up in the scandal as well.
[. . .]
Guap said she slept with five Richmond police officers, including a lieutenant and two sergeants, four Alameda County Sheriff's deputies, one Livermore officer and a law enforcement worker based in Stockton.
[. . .]
"The big question is did they use their authority as police officers to get her to engage in sexual favors," he said. "Would they have had the same relationship if they were Joe the corner custodian?"
Guap, whose mother is an Oakland police dispatcher, said she began selling herself on the streets of Richmond at age 12. A pimp later moved her to Oakland's infamous sex trafficking hub on International Boulevard.
It was there that she met Officer Brendan O'Brien, whom she said protected her when she was running from her pimp. Guap said the two began a sexual relationship, and others soon followed.
"They were my protectors," she said. "I didn't have a pimp at the time. It did make me feel safer, having them."
[. . .]
John Burris, a civil rights attorney who negotiated the department's federal oversight regime after the infamous Riders police scandal in 2000, said Whent should have been more upfront with Warshaw from the beginning and questioned what role his wife's online conversations with Guap may have played in his departure.
"If his wife is involved in something like this, he should have disclosed it right up front and stepped away from the investigation immediately," Burris said. "If he had done that, I think he would have been fine."
Guap didn't provide many details about her conversations with Julia Whent other than that the chief's wife mentioned that one of her daughters was interested in becoming a dispatcher, like Guap's mother.
With the investigation still ongoing, Guap said she has been disappointed in the officers' statements to police officials. "They lied about knowing me or how much they were involved with me," she said. "I guess that's what you are going to do to protect your job."
http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_30005624/oakland-police-scandal-spreads-other-east-bay-departments
Oakland police scandal spreads: Woman claims sex with dozens of officers
By Matthew Artz and David DeBolt, Staff writers
June 13, 2016
* * *
[Updated June 13, 2016 9:12 PM ET]
[From article]
Shocking new allegations reveal that not only did at least 24 police officers sleep with the same prostitute, they also tipped her off about undercover operations.
The woman, who goes by the name of 'Celeste Guap', said that she slept with three of the two dozen officers when she was just 17. She turned 18 last August.
Now, text messages from Guap shown to KPIX reveal exchanges with Oakland officers, who appear to warn her about undercover operations while she was working as a prostitute.
[. . .]
Out of the two dozen officers she had sex with, she says she slept with three of them when she was a minor and that all three of those worked at Oakland Police Department.
Guap also gave a break down to KPIX, where she revealed she had sex with 14 officers from Oakland Police Department, five from the Richmond Police Department, three from Alameda County Sheriff's deputies and one Livermore cop.
[. . .]
Oakland Police Chief Sean Whent resigned Thursday after a sex scandal that began in his department spread to four other cities.
She also said two Oakland officers provided her with confidential police information, including tips on scheduled anti-prostitution stings and arrest records, The Mercury News reported.
At the announcement of Whent's resignation on Friday, Mayor Libby Schaaf said: 'I'm extremely angry about the alleged misconduct in this department.'
Despite this, both Schaaf and city administrator Sabrina Landreth claimed Whent's departure was nothing to do with the scandal, the East Bay Express reported.
But sources told both The Mercury News and the East Bay Express that Whent was pressured to resign by the department's federal overseer, Robert Warshaw.
Whent's resignation came after his superiors discovered that both he and his wife had found out about the misconduct by various officers long before it became public, and refused to escalate the information, the East Bay Express claimed.
At least 14 of Whent's officers had been sexually involved with Guap, whose mother is an Oakland police dispatcher.
She also told Mercury News she had slept with five Richmond police officers, four Alameda County Sheriff's deputies, one Livermore officer and a law enforcement worker based in Stockton.
One of the sheriff's deputies had sex with her in his personal automobile while his K-9 dog sat in the back, she said.
[. . .]
The investigation into the officers' relationship began in September 2015, after married Officer Brendan O'Brien, who had been having an affair with Guap since she was 17, killed himself and named her and several officers in his suicide note.
Since then, two-dozen officers have been revealed to have slept with Guap, some of whom provided her with confidential information.
'I think cops are fine. They're cute and all, but it's like one less officer that's gonna arrest me,' she told the East Bay Express.
[. . .]
She also identified Officer Terryl Smith, one of the two officers who resigned from Oakland PD earlier this year, as someone who gave her arrest records and other confidential information.
'I would hook up with [Smith] like every Saturday night for three months straight,' Guap said. 'He had a mattress in his back seat and slept in his car in the OPD parking lot, so we would hook up after work.'
In addition, she said, a retired Oakland police captain in his 80s contacted her on Facebook in 2015, when she was underage, and eventually paid $250 to have sex with her in a motel after she turned 18.
The captain, who draws a $125,000 pension from the city, admitted to sleeping with the girl and said he found her because she was friends with lots of other officers on Facebook.
But he warned the Express: 'Please don't publish my name. I will die. I have a heart condition.' The paper left him anonymous.
The Express also says that according to text messages it obtained, Guap would have frequent late-night text conversations with Officer Luis Roman while he was on duty; he would send her texts and she would send him pictures of her naked body.
[. . .]
Barry Donelan, president of Oakland's police union, said he was 'mortified and deeply embarrassed' by the allegations. 'If any of this is true, it is an absolute betrayal of what we stand for,' he said.
The scandal is a blow to a department that has been under federal oversight because of failures to adequately hold officers accountable for misdeeds.
Guap, who began selling herself on the streets of Richmond at age 12 and eventually ended up in Oakland's International Boulevard, a well known sex-trafficking hub, said many officers knew she was underage.
'They nicknamed me 'juve,' which is short for juvenile,' said Guap.
She said O'Brien was the first officer she met. The two began a sexual relationship after he defended her from a pimp and others soon followed.
Police opened up an investigation after O'Brien committed suicide on September 25, 2015, at the age of 30, leaving a note naming officers involved with the woman. His wife had died a year earlier.
'They were my protectors,' she said. 'I didn't have a pimp at the time. It did make me feel safer, having them.'
Guap, who is now 18 and lives in Richmond, California, started revealing details on Facebook, suggesting she had illicit encounters with officers - calling the relationships 'harmless' but insisted that she did not 'snitch' on anyone.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3638335/Sex-scandal-Oakland-police-department-spreads-former-underage-sex-worker-says-sex-cops-five-cities.html
Saucy texts reveal Oakland officers tipped off teen prostitute caught up in OPD scandal about undercover operations
Texts reveal Oakland officers tipped off prostitute about undercover ops
Police Chief Sean Whent stepped down as Oakland PD chief Thursday
Sources say it was because 14 of his officers slept with Celese Guap
And he allegedly refused to tell his superiors about his officers' actions
A further 10 officers from four other cities slept with the woman, now 18
She allegedly had sex with a number of officers starting at age 17
Guap was a prostitute at the time, and considered a vulnerable minor
Cop Brendan O'Brien, 30, was the first cop she had sex with
He killed himself last year; his suicide note sparked the investigation
By KIRI BLAKELEY and JAMES WILKINSON and KHALEDA RAHMAN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and DAILYMAIL.COM REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 21:44 EST, 12 June 2016 | UPDATED: 16:43 EST, 13 June 2016
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[Posted May 25, 2016 435 PM ET]
[From article]
An internal affairs investigation is underway focusing on several Oakland police officers who allegedly had sex with an underage girl.
Sources told KPIX 5 the internal affairs investigation centers around a young woman named Celeste Guap, who was underage at the time. She recently began revealing details of her relationships with officers on her Facebook page.
Guap is currently either 18 or 19 years old, according to sources, who also say investigators believe Guap had sex with potentially dozens of police officers beginning when she was 16.
On her Facebook page, Guap suggests she is involved in the sex scandal, but says she never snitched on anybody.
She said she had “harmless relationships” within the police department.
As recently as last month, Guap posted a picture of Oakland police officers dropping her off near her home.
“Took me back to Richmond in style,” she wrote.
In another post, she says the only officer she messed with while underage is sadly gone.
Oakland Police Officer Brendan O’Brien committed suicide last September about a year after his wife’s death was also ruled a suicide.
Investigators say O’Brien left a note that lead to an initial internal affairs investigation.
A subsequent investigation ordered by a federal judge led to many Oakland police officers admitting they had lied during the first internal affairs investigation about their relationships with Guap.
Sources say one officer also admitted to knowing she was underage when he had sex with her.
Oakland Police Department spokeswoman Johnna Watson said only that there is an investigation underway involving three officers, but wouldn’t give any specifics.
Nonetheless, Watson admits it’s another black mark for the department.
“We are entrusted by the community to protect, to serve them and to uphold the law. So we take the allegations very seriously,” said Watson.
Guap’s mother works with the police officers as a dispatcher with the Oakland Police Department.
In addition to the internal investigation, there is an ongoing criminal investigation happening in connection with the activities of the officers.
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/05/12/underage-sex-scandal-rocks-oakland-police-department/
Underage Sex Scandal Rocks Oakland Police Department
May 12, 2016 6:32 PM By Da Lin
CBS News San Francisco CA
Sources told KPIX 5 the internal affairs investigation centers around a young woman named Celeste Guap, who was underage at the time. She recently began revealing details of her relationships with officers on her Facebook page.
Guap is currently either 18 or 19 years old, according to sources, who also say investigators believe Guap had sex with potentially dozens of police officers beginning when she was 16.
On her Facebook page, Guap suggests she is involved in the sex scandal, but says she never snitched on anybody.
She said she had “harmless relationships” within the police department.
As recently as last month, Guap posted a picture of Oakland police officers dropping her off near her home.
“Took me back to Richmond in style,” she wrote.
In another post, she says the only officer she messed with while underage is sadly gone.
Oakland Police Officer Brendan O’Brien committed suicide last September about a year after his wife’s death was also ruled a suicide.
Investigators say O’Brien left a note that lead to an initial internal affairs investigation.
A subsequent investigation ordered by a federal judge led to many Oakland police officers admitting they had lied during the first internal affairs investigation about their relationships with Guap.
Sources say one officer also admitted to knowing she was underage when he had sex with her.
Oakland Police Department spokeswoman Johnna Watson said only that there is an investigation underway involving three officers, but wouldn’t give any specifics.
Nonetheless, Watson admits it’s another black mark for the department.
“We are entrusted by the community to protect, to serve them and to uphold the law. So we take the allegations very seriously,” said Watson.
Guap’s mother works with the police officers as a dispatcher with the Oakland Police Department.
In addition to the internal investigation, there is an ongoing criminal investigation happening in connection with the activities of the officers.
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/05/12/underage-sex-scandal-rocks-oakland-police-department/
Underage Sex Scandal Rocks Oakland Police Department
May 12, 2016 6:32 PM By Da Lin
CBS News San Francisco CA
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