LAPD Officers Charged with Raping Women While on Duty

Two veteran Los Angeles Police Department officers have been charged with raping four women while on and off duty, sometimes in their police car, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

James Nichols, 44, and Luis Valenzuela, 43, are scheduled to be arraigned Thursday. The charges come more than five years after the duo’s first alleged victim came forward. The LAPD has come under intense scrutiny for allowing the officers to stay on the job for years after the first allegation surfaced and while three other women came forward with similar allegations of rape. The failure to take swift disciplinary action led to the victimization of at least one more woman, an LA County search warrant alleged.

Nichols and Valenzuela, who worked in the Hollywood Division’s narcotics unit, could not be reached for comment immediately.

According to the LAPD, both officers have been “relieved from duty” without pay, but are still with the department.

“I will say again, any officer that abuses the public’s trust is not welcome in the LAPD, and we will continue vigorously investigating officers accused of alleged crimes and cooperate fully with the District Attorney’s Office,” Chief Charlie Beck said.

The officer’s union has not responded to Patch’s request for comment.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, the rapes began in December of 2008 after the officers became partners and continued until 2011. The men allegedly began sexually assaulting women at numerous locations, including in their police vehicle, prosecutors allege.

“All four women were arrested at various times by the officers during narcotics-related offenses,” the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said in a written release. ”Most, but not all, of the alleged sexual assaults occurred while the officers were on duty.”

The alleged victims were 19, 24, 25 and 34 years-old. At least two of the women were obligated to work with the department as confidential informants.

Though the alleged assaults span years, and the victims are unrelated, their stories are similar.

Nichols and Valenzuela allegedly targeted women they knew either as informants or as suspects arrested in narcotics cases.

One victim, who was 19 when she was arrested by the pair in 2009, filed a lawsuit alleging they harassed her for months before tracking her down while she walked her dog down the street, according to a report by Mother Jones. They drove her to a secluded spot and forced her to perform oral sex on Valenzuela under threat of jail, the lawsuit alleged.

She reported the incident to the LAPD in 2011, but claimed in her lawsuit that internal affairs investigators strung her along for years while encouraging her to keep quiet.

Another woman contacted by internal affairs investigators alleged both officers forced her to have sex with them to stay out of jail after she was arrested on narcotics charges, The Los Angeles Times reported. She claimed they made her a department informant and repeatedly forced her to have sex with them under threat of jail or promises to relieve her of her obligation as an informant. Those assaults allegedly took place while the officers were on and off duty.

Nichols, a 15-year LAPD veteran, is charged with five counts each of forcible rape and rape by threat to arrest or deport and one count each of forcible oral copulation, oral copulation under color of authority, attempted forcible oral copulation, attempted oral copulation under color of authority and sexual battery.

Valenzuela, who has been with the department for 18 years, is charged with three counts each of forcible rape and rape by threat to arrest or deport and one count each of forcible oral copulation, oral copulation under color of authority, attempted forcible oral copulation, attempted oral copulation under color of authority, assault with a firearm and sexual battery.

Nichols and Valenzuela face life in prison if convicted of the charges.

Prosecutors are asking for bail of $3.83 million for Nichols and $3.76 million for Valenzuela.

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City News Service contributed to this report.