Two accused officers plead not guilty
Attorney: Case is politically motivated; truth will come out
HAYWARD — A defense attorney for two Oakland police officers charged with prostitution-related crimes in unrelated cases said Friday that both officers are innocent and the cases against them are politically motivated.
“I guarantee you, we will be going to trial in that case and you will hear the truth of what happened and how political this case is and why the DA is bringing their charges against an innocent police officer,” Michael Cardoza said when asked about the felony charge against Oakland patrol Officer Giovanni LoVerde.
“They have their own stories they do want to tell. You will hear them at a jury trial and not before it,” Cardoza said of LoVerde, and his other client, Oakland police Officer Ryan Walterhouse.
LoVerde, 33, and Walterhouse, 26, pleaded not guilty in a Hayward courtroom on Friday, each making their first court appearance since accusations began flying about officers from all over the Bay Area and the sex-trafficked teenage daughter of an Oakland police dispatcher. The woman, now 19, claims to have had sexual contact with more than 30 Bay Area officers, allegations that first came to light in an Oakland police officer’s September 2015 suicide note.
LoVerde is charged with a felony for reportedly having oral sex with the woman outside an Oakland apartment building when she was 17. He claims he never met her in person.
Walterhouse is accused of paying a different woman for sex weeks after his colleagues’ arrests. They are two of eight Oakland officers arrested or facing criminal charges since December, prompting outrage from City Hall and a shake-up in the department leadership.
The dispatcher’s daughter, who formerly used the name Celeste Guap, has filed multimillion-dollar claims against all the Bay Area cities and counties that employ the officers she’s named, including a $66 million claim with the city of Oakland. On Wednesday night, it was announced that heavy-hitting civil rights attorney John Burris is her new representation.
“This case has turned into money for her. Her accusations are wrong,” Cardoza said. “She repeatedly told the investigators ... that she never had sex with LoVerde, and all of the sudden the DA’s office gets involved and now — Oh my Lord — now, she’s had sex? We are taking this head on. It. Is. Not. True.”
LoVerde is a San Jose native who married his high school sweetheart and has two children, Cardoza said. Walterhouse was a baseball star at Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland and is engaged to be married. They hid away from media cameras before their arraignments and hurried off quickly afterward. They are both on paid leave from the department.
LoVerde, who was expected to post his $20,000 bail on Friday, told reporters as he was leaving the courthouse that he wants to share his story, but has been advised by his attorney not to talk.
Charges were filed against LoVerde and several other officers weeks before Oct. 1, when Walterhouse is reported to have paid a woman for sex in a Castro Valley motel.
Walterhouse’s own department secretly watched him after receiving a tip from another officer several weeks ago.
Oakland police said Walterhouse warned the prostitute about Oct. 13 and Oct. 14 police prostitution operations in the city so that she could avoid arrest. Walterhouse had known the woman for months, having met her through his duties as a police officer, authorities said.
Walterhouse was arrested as he arrived to work on Wednesday night and was subsequently charged with two felony counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice and one misdemeanor count of engaging in prostitution.
“He was doing his job,” Cardoza said of Walterhouse. “I will explain that at trial, but it was in the course of doing his job. From the facts that I know now, we are headed to a trial and we will let a jury decide what the truth is.
“This is a very political case in this county, and I really believe that there are politics involved here,” Cardoza said. “The police officers are targets nowadays, even with a district attorney’s office, so it’s political, very political.”