'Depraved' Cop Gets 5 Life Sentences, Sexually Assaulted 4 Women: Authorities

SANGER, CA — A former Central California police officer was sentenced this week to five consecutive life sentences for sexually assaulting four women he encountered while on duty, authorities said.

J. DeShawn Torrence, 41, a former Sanger officer, received his sentence Monday after a two-and-a-half-week trial in January that resulted in a federal jury convicting him of eight counts of deprivation of constitutional rights under color of law, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The jury found that five of the counts involved kidnapping, aggravated sexual abuse or attempted aggravated sexual abuse, authorities said.

“The defendant’s conduct was premediated and depraved,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the department’s Civil Rights Division said in a news release. “He repeatedly abused his official authority to exploit women who expected the police to protect them.”

Torrence kidnapped a 21-year-old woman who was walking to a store to buy groceries for her young children, drove her outside of town in his police car and sexually assaulted her at an isolated dead end, according to the department. As he drove the woman away from town, he taunted her by saying, “No one is going to look for you,” and after the assault, he warned that if she reported him, “No one’s going to believe you,” according to the department.

Torrence also raped a 67-year-old woman after following her into her home during a driving under the influence investigation, authorities said. Following the assault, he frequently parked his police car in front of the woman’s home to stalk and intimidate her, according to the department. On one such occasion, he cornered the woman behind her home and sexually assaulted her, authorities said.

With a third victim, Torrence showed up at her door in his police uniform after midnight, entered her home, pinned her against the kitchen counter and sexually assaulted her, according to the department.

Torrence also went multiple times to the home of a domestic violence victim, supposedly to investigate a prior domestic violence incident, authorities said. During the follow-up visits, he forced the victim to expose sensitive parts of her body by falsely telling her that he had to photograph her injuries, according to the department. On one occasion, he trapped the woman in her bedroom and sexually assaulted her, authorities said.