Tip of the Iceberg: East Bay Cops Charged with Sex Crimes and Corruption

Nancy O'Malley was appointed by Tom Orloff when he retired as District Attorney in 2009. Like her predecessor, she has run unopposed in every election since becoming DA. Word is she's hoping for an even bigger appointment: California Attorney General. Not having much of a record beyond the usual prosecutions of endless numbers of people of color and low-income county residents — with some anti-Oaklander, racist NIMBY-ism thrown in — O'Malley has attempted to make her name as a staunch opponent of human exploitation and trafficking.

Recent reporting led by Darwin BondGraham and Ali Winston at the East Bay Express exposed widespread crimes, corruption, and coverups in the Oakland police department. As more and more came to light about Oakland police sexually abusing and trafficking a teenage girl since she was a minor, with other media outlets digging in as well, the fallout quickly snowballed. It became apparent the trafficking of the teenager spread across multiple Bay Area police departments. In response, community activists issued demands including the resignation of Mayor Libby Schaaf. A steady drumbeat of protests turned up on OPD's doorstep. With such disturbing police behavior regularly highlighted on television, the calls for accountability at OPD came from all quarters. Mayor Schaaf was forced to acknowledge the seriousness of the problems in her police department, leading to the suspension of multiple cops and the dismissal of several police chiefs. In this extraordinary environment, with the avalanche of known police crimes falling all around her, it clearly became untenable for DA O'Malley to do nothing.

The first charges brought by O'Malley were on September 16, against Livermore police officer Dan Black, who quit the day before O'Malley publicly announced charges were coming, and Oakland sergeant LeRoy Johnson, who retired earlier this year. Black is charged with two counts of engaging in an act of prostitution, two counts of lewd acts in public, and one count of providing alcohol to a minor. Johnson is charged with one count of failing to report sexual misconduct concerning a minor.

On September 18, former Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputy Ricardo Perez, who recently resigned, and Oakland officer Giovanni LoVerde, still with OPD, were each charged with felony oral copulation with a minor. Oakland cop Brian Bunton, also still with OPD, was charged with one count of felony conspiracy to obstruct justice and one misdemeanor charge of engaging in an act of prostitution.

O'Malley was kind enough to bring charges against Brian Bunton and Giovanni LoVerde in Hayward, decreasing their chance of a run-in with pesky media.

Yet to be charged are OPD's Terryl Smith, who resigned in May, and Warit Uttapa, who is still employed by OPD as of this writing.

Based on the sparse record of Alameda County District Attorney's prosecuting crooked cops over the years, this is indeed a rare moment in local law enforcement history, and it looks like a big haul in that it touches multiple departments. But the highest ranking cop charged is a sergeant and it's obvious the overall number of cops involved — those who exploited or trafficked the teenager, and those who covered it up — is many times greater.

The scope of those involved is known to be so widespread as to include a long-retired Oakland police captain with a heart condition, several Alameda County sheriff's deputies, a former Oakland cop working inside the DA's office, and possibly a judicial candidate for Alameda County Superior Court.

OPD's Internal Affairs, having learned about the statutory rape of a minor by multiple officers in September 2015, if not earlier, was ready to ignore the rampant trafficking by cops, ignore it all, until Judge Thelton Henderson and independent monitor Robert Warshaw took over the investigation from OPD in March of this year.

This case is centered around a single teenager who was taken advantage of and abused by police. Surely, there are more. These cops didn't all wake up one day and decide that sexually exploiting and trafficking a teenager would be a novel thing to try. It's already in their blood. They regularly come into contact with and arrest sex workers. They know how to use their badge to exploit and coerce. Seven cops is just the tip of the iceberg, but O'Malley had to do something. And she's betting this is enough to allay the public's current disgust with East Bay cops.


Details of the charges can be found in the criminal complaints and probable cause filings below.