2nd DA inspector placed on leave
Officials say move based on allegations of inappropriate texts
OAKLAND — Less than a week after an inspector was placed on administrative leave, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley’s office said late Monday that a second DA inspector has also been placed on administrative leave.
“He was placed on administrative leave based upon allegations of inappropriate text messaging, but we cannot comment more until we have all the facts before us,” DA spokeswoman Teresa Drenick said late Monday.
Drenick said the move was not related to the sex scandal engulfing several East Bay police departments, in which texts were sent between officers and a woman named Celeste Guap.
On Friday night, accusations surfaced that several black commanders, including some in the embattled Oakland Police Department’s homicide unit, had sent racist text messages to each other.
It was unclear late Monday whether the second DA inspector’s texts are related.
The second inspector’s name was not released Monday. The name of the first inspector, who was placed on leave last Wednesday, has also not been released, but Guap has claimed to have had an online friendship when she was under age with DA inspector Rick Orozco, who at the time was an OPD captain.
According to a message provided by Guap, she claims Orozco once sent a sexually suggestive comment to her.
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf has repeatedly said that in the investigation into officer wrongdoing prompted by this scandal, no former Oakland officers in the District Attorney’s Office would participate.
“The alleged conduct of the officers in this matter is not in line with what our office and the wider community feel is acceptable for those who are sworn to protect and serve,” O’Malley’s statement Wednesday said in part.
“While it is our practice not to discuss pending investigations, I can firmly state that we do not and will not turn a blind eye to human trafficking or the sexual exploitation of a minor, whether the offender is a civilian or a law enforcement officer.”