City Government

Four Police Officers Fired, Seven Others Suspended in Police Sex Crime Scandal

Published

9 years ago

September 9, 2016

The City of Oakland this week concluded its administrative investigation of the sex crime scandal involving over a dozen Oakland Police Department (OPD) officers, which led to the removal of three police chiefs in one week this year.

The city intends to terminate four police officers and suspend another seven officers without pay, according to Mayor Libby Schaaf, City Administrator Sabrina Landreth and Deputy Police Chief John Lois, who spoke at a City Hall news conference Wednesday afternoon.

“I am deeply sorry for the harm that this scandal has caused, particularly to community trust, which for many was already so tenuous,” said Mayor Schaaf.

The mayor and the city administrator said the proposed discipline marks the end of the city’s review of police misconduct involving an underage girl, known by the name of Celeste Guap.

Of the four officers who were fired, several have already resigned. Whether or not criminal charges will be filed against any of the officers is up to the office of District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, who is still investigating the case.

According to reports, Guap says she had sexual relations with two-dozen current and former officers in several Bay Area departments including 14 Oakland officers and investigators in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.

Guap, a resident of Richmond and the daughter of an Oakland police dispatcher, said she had sexual contact with at least three officers before she turned 18 last year.

The punishment of the 12 Oakland officers is not final until officers go through due process and grievance procedures, which includes an arbitration process that has frequently overturned or reduced police discipline.

Speakers at the press conference did not reveal the names of officers who were disciplined. State law prohibits the release of names of the officers and specific details of individual findings.

The four terminated officers were found to have committed one or more of a list of offenses, including attempted sexual assault, assisting in the crime of prostitution, engaging in lewd conduct in public and accessing law enforcement databases for personal gain.

“This was an exhaustive and expansive case,” according OPD Deputy Chief Lois, who headed the city’s investigation. He said the investigation involved hundreds of hours of interviews with 50 witnesses and 11 OPD interviews with Guap.

Over 78,000 pages of social media accounts and 28,000 text messages were reviewed by the investigative team, which was made up of five members of the OPD Internal Affairs Unit and two members of the City Attorney’s Office, he said.

Speaking after the news conference, civil rights attorney John Burris said the district attorney should bring charges against the officers.

“They should be prosecuted,” he said. “We are talking about men who are police officers having sex with a minor.”

Burris said, however, that he was “not optimistic” that charges will be fled, “since members of the district attorney’s office were involved.”

Referring to the mayor’s conduct during the investigation, Post publisher Paul Cobb said, “The mayor should also apologize for previously citing the race of Black officers for their alleged racist texts, while failing to cite the race of the officers who were allegedly involved with the statutory rape crimes.

“In addition, she is apparently attempting to unseat council members and punish those who were critical of her refusal to fund the Department of Race and Equity.”

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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

3 days ago

May 25, 2025

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IN MEMORIAM: Nate Holden, State Senator and Longtime Los Angeles Councilmember, Dies at 95

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn described Holden as “a lion” in the State Senate and a force to be reckoned with on the Los Angeles City Council.” Hahn added that she learned a lot working with Holden when she was a new councilmember.

Published

1 week ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Former Los Angeles Councilmember and California State Sen. Nate Holden. File photo.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Former Los Angeles City Councilmember Nathaniel “Nate” Holden, a prominent figure in the city’s politics, passed away at the age of 95, his family confirmed on May 7.

Holden, who represented South Los Angeles for 16 years on the City Council and served one term in the California State Senate, was widely regarded as a forceful advocate for his community.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn described Holden as “a lion” in the State Senate and a force to be reckoned with on the Los Angeles City Council.”

Hahn added that she learned a lot working with Holden when she was a new councilmember.

Holden’s journey to political prominence began in the segregated South, where he was born in Macon, Georgia, in 1929. He often recalled the childhood moment when he first heard the governor of Georgia vowing to continue suppressing Black people.

“Doing the best you can for the people. Law and order. Make sure that people’s communities are safe. I did it all,” said Holden, reflecting on his legacy.

Holden is survived by his sons, including former California Assemblymember Chris Holden, who represented a district in Southern California that includes Pasadena and Altadena in Los Angeles County and cities in San Bernardino County.

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Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Published

1 week ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.