Woman Tied to Sex Scandal, Livermore Police Officer's Resignation Accepts Florida Plea Deal

The key witness in a Bay Area police sexual exploitation scandal who prosecutors need to come back to California to file charges against seven current and former law enforcement officers has accepted a plea deal and will be from a Florida jail, her attorneys said today.

California attorneys Pamela Price and Charles Bonner announced in a statement that the 19-year-old woman known as Celeste Guap pleaded no contest to misdemeanor simple battery. While they did not immediately
disclose the conditions of the plea deal, they said it contained a stipulation that she would not have a criminal record.

The attorneys scheduled a news conference in Florida today to further discuss Guap's case. Guap is expected to testify against seven current and former law enforcement officers, including five from the Oakland Police Department, who Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley announced last week would be
facing criminal charges.

They won't be charged until Guap can return to California. Two of the officers are facing charges of felony oral copulation with a minor.

Attorneys for Guap say she has been a victim of sex trafficking since she was 12 years old. She came under investigation by the Oakland Police Department last year for a relationship she had with Officer Brendan
O'Brien, who killed himself in September 2015 and implicated himself and other officers in a suicide note.

Details of the scandal did not emerge publicly until May. Since then, the case has spread to implicate dozens of officers in at least eight different law enforcement agencies.

Last week, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf announced that 12 Oakland police officers would be disciplined, including four who would be fired. Days later, O'Malley announced criminal charges against five Oakland police officers, a Livermore officer and a Contra Costa County sheriff's deputy.

Richmond police chief Allwyn Brown said that 11 officers from his department were investigated in connection with the scandal and some of them would be fired or disciplined but refused to provide further details.

Richmond police have been criticized for facilitating Guap entering a Florida drug rehabilitation facility, but Brown said allegations that the department sent her there "distort reality." Instead, he said the department helped her get funds from the state's Victim Compensation Program so she could enter rehab in Florida last
month. Once there, she was arrested days later for allegedly assaulting a guard, which rankled Alameda County prosecutors because of her key role in bringing the charges against the seven officers.

Former Contra Costa County sheriff's Deputy Ricardo Perez and Oakland police Officer Giovanni LoVerde are each facing charges of felony oral copulation with a minor. If convicted, they could face 16 months to
three years in state prison. Perez will also be charged with two counts of engaging in a lewd act in a public place.

Former Livermore police Officer Dan Black will be charged with two counts of engaging in an act of prostitution and two counts of lewd acts in public.

Oakland police Officer Brian Bunton faces one count of felony conspiracy to obstruct justice, which carries a possible sentence of a year in prison, and one misdemeanor charge of engaging in an act of prostitution.

Retired Oakland police Officer Leroy Johnson will be charged with one count of failing to report sexual misconduct concerning a minor. Oakland police Officer Warit Utappa will be accused of searching official criminal justice data and computer systems for an unauthorized purpose.

Former Oakland police Officer Tyrell Smith, who resigned in May, faces four counts of the same crime.

Previous coverage:

• Woman Tied to Sex Scandal, Livermore Police Officer's Resignation Offered Plea Deal in Florida
  
• Former Livermore Police Officer in ‘Celeste Guap’ Sex Scandal Facing Multiple Charges
• Livermore Officer In 'Celeste Guap' Sex Scandal Resigns: Reports
• Livermore Officer on Leave for Possible Involvement with Woman at Center of Sex Scandal
• Livermore Police Officer Named in Sex Scandal
  

Bay Bay City News

Photo via Shutterstock