LAPD Officers Get 25 Years For Using The Badge To Rape Women

LOS ANGELES, CA — Two veteran Los Angeles police officers pleaded no contest Monday to charges that they sexually assaulted four women while on duty and were immediately sentenced to 25-year prison terms.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen also ordered James Christopher Nichols, 46, and Luis Gustavo Valenzuela, 45, to register as lifetime sex offenders.

Nichols and Valenzuela were scheduled for trial when they both entered a plea in a downtown courtroom to two counts each of forcible rape and forcible oral copulation.

The two worked as partners in the LAPD's Hollywood Division and had been facing additional counts of rape and other sexual assault crimes that could have landed them each a life sentence if convicted as charged.

The assaults took place between 2008 and 2011 and the victims -- who ranged in age from 19 to 34 -- were all involved in narcotics-related investigations when assaulted. At least one acted as a criminal informant for the police, while others were arrested for drug crimes.

One of the women alleged that she was sexually assaulted on four separate occasions -- twice by Nichols, once by Valenzuela and once by both of the officers -- over a period of about 18 months. Another said she was assaulted with a gun.

Both officers have remained in jail since being arrested in February 2016. Nichols had been with the LAPD for 15 years and Valenzuela was an 18-year veteran of the force. They had been relieved of duty, but their termination from the force was pending the outcome of their trial.

All four victims -- at least one of whom acted as a criminal informant for the police -- filed lawsuits against the city, which paid $575,000 to one victim, $750,000 to another and $450,000 to a third, according to the Los Angeles Times. A fourth case is still awaiting resolution.

City News Service; Photo: Shutterstock