Attorney Adante Pointer speaks on Bay Area police underage sex scandal

by Apollonia Jordan

A predator who takes pleasure in sexual behavior with a minor has no place on any police force, period! The worst type of criminal is the one who wears a badge. No one is above the law.

Adante-Pointer-240x300, Attorney Adante Pointer speaks on Bay Area police underage sex scandal, Local News & Views
Adante Pointer

Police instill fear into the minds of inner city children at a very young age. They come in the school and into the housing projects and play basketball with them, and they do safety drills in public school to gain children’s trust. Then, these same officers exploit these children for their own sick personal sexual desires.

Check out what civil rights attorney Adante Pointer, with the law offices of John Burris, had to say about this underage sex scandal currently disgracing many Bay Area police departments.

Apollonia: What are your thoughts and concerns about the recent Bay Area police sex scandal involving then underage minor Celeste Guap?

Adante: What you have is a young woman, who was essentially a minor at the time of the incident, who was being exploited and trafficked for the sexual pleasure of sworn police officers. These officers knew that she was underage and that she was vulnerable and sought to exploit her vulnerability for their own interests.

They did that while knowing they were committing a criminal act, given the fact that they are the ones in charge of protecting and safeguarding young women and children from being trafficked and part of this entire sex trade.

You have officers exchanging confidential information with this young woman in exchange for sexual pleasures, then outrageously passing her around and referring her to their other law enforcement buddies, as if she was just an object being bought and sold.

These officers knew that she was underage and that she was vulnerable and sought to exploit her vulnerability for their own interests.

Apollonia: Right, it’s really sick and disgusting. So do you believe it makes a difference if these officers committed these crimes while on or off duty? Or is there a certain level of ethics an officer of the law should uphold at all times?

Adante: There is a certain level of ethics an officer should uphold at all times. Given this is the state of California and prostitution is illegal, these officers were committing a crime, often while on duty. They’re committing a criminal act whether they were in uniform or out of uniform. If these sexual acts took place while she was a minor, then, ethically these officers showed low, poor or no ethics at all by engaging in this sort of conduct.

Apollonia: The victim, Celeste Guap, claims to have slept with many officers from Oakland, San Francisco, Richmond and many other police departments around the Bay Area. What can the mayors of the inner city communities do to better protect our children from these predators?

Adante: They have to apply the law across the board and hold these officers accountable for their actions! Police officers shouldn’t get a free pass!

The officers who are responsible for safeguarding our children don’t allow predators to get a pass. So, these predators posing as officers shouldn’t get a pass either.

These police found someone who was vulnerable and who they could give favors to or money, and they continued to exploit her. I would expect the mayors to take a stronger stance against what these officers are doing to exploit these women and children. These officers were in charge of protecting this baby and they did not.

The officers who are responsible for safeguarding our children don’t allow predators to get a pass. So, these predators posing as officers shouldn’t get a pass either.

Apollonia: Do you feel Celeste has a case under the law?

Adante: Whether you have a case is really fact specific. For the officers who engaged in sexual acts with Celeste when she was underage, she may have a criminal case against them for statutory rape. If they forced her, coerced her or threatened her to perform sexual acts while on duty, then that could also be a civil case.

Due to the refusal of the police department to investigate these crimes during the times they took place, it is going to hinder a lawyer’s ability as civil attorneys to bring forth the case. The police department looked the other way. Information and evidence that would have been readily available may not be there now.

Apollonia: What about a case of misconduct?

Adante: Yes, officers have an ethics code that they are supposed to live by, both on and off duty. They are not supposed to bring disrespect to the badge or engage in unethical conduct.

Given the allegations are true, here we have officers engaging in this type of conduct, so yes, they should have been charged with misconduct. However, the problem is that the Oakland police chief and other chiefs around the Bay Area refuse to prosecute these acts of transgression within a year of them taking place.

Now, the officers may not be disciplined. Once an act of misconduct is done, there are rules that state there is only a certain amount of time an officer can be held accountable for his or her actions.

Officers have an ethics code that they are supposed to live by, both on and off duty. They are not supposed to bring disrespect to the badge or engage in unethical conduct.

So, if you drag your feet and look the other way, send investigators in another direction or don’t pursue these crimes as vigorously as you normally would, these officers will continue to wear a badge and avoid being disciplined.

Bay Area journalist and longtime Bay View writer Apollonia Jordan can be reached at apollonia@sfbayviewnews.wpenginepowered.com.