Alleged Underage Sex, Suicide, Possible Murder Inside Oakland Police

'The only officer I ever messed with underage is sadly gone'
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted May 14, 2016 11:29 AM CDT
Alleged Underage Sex, Suicide, Possible Murder Inside Oakland Police
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf speaks beside Oakland Chief of Police Sean Whent on Friday.   (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

A scandal involving alleged underage sex, suicide, and possible murder is exploding within the Oakland Police Department. The San Jose Mercury News reports it all started when Irma Huerta Lopez killed herself with a gun belonging to her husband, officer Brendan O'Brien, in 2014. Huerta Lopez's family believes O'Brien, who was suffering from PTSD and drinking heavily, killed her. The coroner's office found her death suspicious, but it was ultimately ruled a suicide, according to the East Bay Express. Then last September, O'Brien killed himself. In a suicide note, he reportedly admitted to exchanging inappropriate messages with the underage daughter of a police dispatcher, which damaged his marriage, CBS SF Bay Area reports. He also named three other officers involved with the woman, including a sergeant he claimed had sex with her.

An internal investigation into the note's allegations—what the police chief calls "an unfortunate series of off-duty incidents"—went nowhere. But in March, a judge ordered a new investigation over "irregularities." Sources tell CBS multiple officers admitted to lying during that first investigation. And the woman, no longer underage, has recently been posting details of the alleged affairs on Facebook under the name Celeste Guap. "The only officer I ever messed with underage is sadly gone now, so I don't know why this is still being brought up," the Mercury News quotes a post from Wednesday as saying. Three officers were put on leave this week in connection with the alleged sexual misconduct. And Oakland's mayor called for the district attorney's office to open its own investigation into the alleged misconduct, as well as both O'Brien's and Huerta Lopez's suicides. (More sexual misconduct stories.)

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