Man Sexually Assaulted In Jail Following Mistaken Identity Arrest Settles With L.A. County

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Board of Supervisors approved a $395,000 payout to settle a claim brought by a victim of mistaken identity who ended up spending five days in county jail, where he said he was assaulted by a violent sexual predator.

The summary of the case provided by county lawyers provided few details beyond Valentino Bocanegra's claim that he was falsely arrested based on a warrant issued for someone else and then falsely imprisoned and sexually assaulted.

However, an opinion by a three-judge panel of the Fourth District Court of Appeal that upheld the prosecutorial immunity of a deputy district attorney in the case laid out the facts in more detail.

Bocanegra, who is also known as Jose Bocanegragonzalez, the name on his driver's license, was picked up by Palm Springs police on July 16, 2011, on a warrant for Jose Gonzalez. Gonzalez was wanted on a misdemeanor parole violation.

Bocanegra said he repeatedly told police and sheriff's deputies in various jurisdictions that if they checked his social security number, fingerprints and booking photos, they would not match up with the man they wanted.

But instead of helping him, Bocanegra alleged that deputies retaliated by refusing to let him attend his first arraignment hearing and intentionally placed him in a cell with an inmate known to be a violent sexual predator.

When Bocanegra was ultimately arraigned, the judge examined his booking photos and fingerprints and realized he wasn't the man named in the warrant, contrary to claims by the prosecutor. The judge released Bocanegra and offered an apology from the bench, according to the appeals court opinion.

The corrective action plan offered by county officials calls for deputies to verify any disputed warrants.

— City News Service, photo via Shutterstock