Officers in exploitation scandal kept jobs
Documents released under new police transparency law
A high-ranking Richmond police official and five other officers who exchanged explicit messages with a teenager involved in a sexual exploitation scandal received written reprimands but kept their jobs, newly released disciplinary records show.
Records released Wednesday for the first time publicly identify four Richmond officers disciplined for their involvement involving the Richmond teenager, known as Celeste Guap, and multiple East Bay law enforcement agencies.
Most notably is Lt. Felix Tan, who was the chief of staff to then- Chief Allwyn Brown. As a public information officer, Tan helped craft the department’s messaging as the scandal ric
ocheted from the Oakland Police Department to Richmond.
For swapping explicit me s sa ge s a nd re c eiving nude photos of the 18-year- old, Tan was given a written reprimand and kept his rank of lieutenant. When internal affairs investigators asked him about the messages he exchanged with Guap, Tan told them, “Of course I made some comments because I’m a guy.”
Tan is among the highest-ranking officials in any of the departments, along with Richmond police Lt. Andre Hill, also a former public information officer.
The city of Richmond released all disciplinary records related to the in
vestigation to the Bay Area News Group and other news organizations as part of a settlement agreement stemming from a lawsuit over SB1421, the 2019 police transparency law.
In interviews with this news organization in 2016, Guap named five officers she claimed to have a relationship with: Lt. Hill, Sg t. A rmando Moreno, Sgt. Mike Rood, Officer Jarred Tong and Officer Terrance Jackson. This organization typically does not name victims of sexual assault or trafficking, but it did so after Guap (who uses an assumed name) had spoken out publicly in the case.
The new records confirm the names of three other officers: Detective Sgt. Erik Oliver, Detective Daniel Campos and Officer Joe Deorian, who all received written repri
mands for sexually explicit messaging with Guap.
D e or ia n wa s r epr imanded for using his personal cell to “engage in a brief ‘ sexting’ relationship” with Guap. It started when the then-18-year- old reached out to Deorian on Facebook with “solicitations” and nude pics, the letter says.
Deorian was the Richmond of ficer who shot and killed Juan Ayon-Barraza during a hectic police chase last April. Ayon-Barraza was suspected of slaying a Vallejo woman and leading police on a chase in his van when Deorian fired a shot from the driver’s seat of his moving squad car. Ayon-Barraza then ran over two Oakland officers and subsequently was shot by five of their colleagues.
Oliver, according to his reprimand letter, solic
ited pictures from Guap. It notes that he stopped by her house twice but the visits were “brief and nonsexual in nature.” Oliver did not know Guap had been trafficked but was reprimanded for his “inappropriate and unbecoming” decision to trade sexual messages and visit with an 18-year- old.
Campos also received a written reprimand for sharing a sexual fantasy with Guap using his work cellphone.
Campos also discussed with her an undercover prostitution sting on 23rd Street, investigators found. At the time, he was a detective in the domestic violence sexual assault unit. Campos still works at RPD.
Richmond Police Chief Bisa French, in an interview Thursday, said the conduct described was “completely unacceptable”
for an officer. French was an assistant chief at the time and took over for Allwyn Brown, who resigned last year and was criticized by then- Richmond City Manager Bill Lindsay. Lindsay said the chief had been “far too lenient” on officers involved.
“As the new chief, I have had an opportunity to set clear expectations for staff, and this is well outside the scope of what I think is acceptable for a police officer,” French said. “It erodes public trust and puts us in a situation where we lose momentum in terms of what we’re trying to achieve in the community.”
Hill, a lieutenant in charge of the Youth Services Division, was fired for sexting with Guap and going to her house while off duty for oral sex. The depa r tment a lso f ired Tong, who had worked as a school resource officer, had sex with Guap on two occasions and lied to investigators about it.
The city moved to fire Jackson for having sexual contact with Guap while he was on duty, but he won his job back. Chief French said Jackson is no longer with Richmond PD.
Two sergeants — Moreno and Rood — were demoted. Moreno had sex with Guap while off duty and, according to disciplinar y records, knew she had worked as a sex worker. Moreno appealed the city’s decision to fire him and got his job back.
Rood received a reprimand for sexting with Guap and is currently on leave, Chief French said. She would not elaborate.