City may settle claim filed by teen exploited by police
City attorney is recommending council authorize $989,000 payment in sex scandal
OAKLAND — The city is poised to pay nearly $1 million to settle a claim filed by the teenage daughter of a police dispatcher at the center of last year’s police sex scandal that rocked the department and reverberated across the Bay Area.
City Attorney Barbara Parker’s office is recommending that the City Council settle the case for $989,000 at Tuesday’s meeting.
The teenager, now 19, filed a claim against the city alleging that Oakland officers exploited and victimized her in violation of her civil rights. Her original claim against the city sought $66 million in damages.
Her attorney, John Burris, declined to discuss the settlement until it is finalized. The city attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The woman, who used to go by the name Celeste Guap, has accused multiple Oakland police officers, as well as officers in other East Bay departments, of having sex with her, some while she was a minor and others in exchange for giving her confidential police information or protection.
The allegations made public last May led to misconduct investigations in Oakland, Richmond, Livermore and the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office. As the scandal unfolded, Oakland Police Chief Sean Whent resigned, his replacement, Ben Fairow, was fired after five days as interim chief, and two days after that, Fairow’s replacement, Paul Figueroa, went out on leave.
U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson, who oversees the Oakland Police Department’s federal reform program, has appointed an attorney to investigate the city’s handling of the internal affairs case involving the woman’s allegations.
Attorney Edward Swanson’s investigation, in which he now has access to city attorney records, is continuing.
In all, six former and current officers were charged with crimes in Alameda County, and a retired Oakland captain took a no contest plea deal in Contra Costa County.
The woman took the stand for the first time last week to testify against former Oakland officer Brian Bunton, who is accused of engaging in prostitution with the teenager at an Oakland hotel and conspiracy to obstruct justice for telling her by text to stay away from a purported prostitution sting on International Boulevard.
This newspaper is not naming the woman because she is a victim of sexual exploitation. Before Burris became her lawyer, other lawyers for the woman filed claims against Livermore and Richmond.