Allegations of police sexual misconduct, corruption spreads to other Bay Area departments

OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU & AP) — A sex scandal involving Oakland police has spread to other area police departments, with the woman at the center of it claiming she had sex with two dozen current and former officers in five cities, a newspaper investigation published Sunday found.

On Tuesday, the Alameda sheriff's office said an independent investigator has cleared four Alameda deputies suspected of being involved in the case from any wrongdoing.

The woman, a Richmond resident who was not named, tells the East Bay Times  that she slept with three of the 24 officers before she turned 18 last August.

She also tells the newspaper that two Oakland officers provided her confidential police information, including tips on scheduled anti-prostitution stings and arrest records and other confidential information. In addition, she says a retired Oakland police captain in his 80s paid $250 to have sex with her in a motel. The captain and several other officers named did not return calls for comment.

The allegations, involving at least 14 Oakland police officers, is a blow to a department that has been under federal oversight because of failures to adequately hold officers accountable for misdeeds.

Oakland Police Chief Sean Whent stepped down Thursday and gave no specific reason for his resignation. Multiple sources told the newspaper the department's federal overseer, Robert Warshaw, pressured him to resign.

The woman, 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 the woman, whose mother is an Oakland police dispatcher.

The woman, who first spoke to the East Bay Express, said she also slept with five Richmond police officers, four Alameda County Sheriff's deputies, one Livermore officer and a law enforcement worker based in Stockton. The Alameda sheriff said its officers have been cleared.

She said the first officer she met was Oakland Police Officer Brendan O'Brien. 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 last year and left a note naming officers involved with the woman.

"They were my protectors," she said. "I didn't have a pimp at the time. It did make me feel safer, having them."