A fifth Oakland police officer and a sheriff's deputy have been placed on administrative leave, the department confirmed Monday, as the young woman at the center of the growing sex scandal claims to have had sex with 28 officers stretching across several agencies.
The 18-year-old Celeste Guap, which is not her real name, told NBC Bay Area on Monday that she's had sex with officers from the Richmond Police Department, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office, as well as a Livermore police officer and a law enforcement worker based in Stockton. In all, she said she's had sex with 28 law enforcement officers throughout the Bay Area. And she also said that some officers paid her for the sex, either with money or with information. She said four of those encounters were when she was underage.
That number is more than she told both the East Bay Express and the East Bay Times, which reported many details about the scandal over the weekend.
Guap told those agencies that she had sex with at least 14 Oakland officers, including three when she was underage; that two officers provided her with confidential police information, including tips on scheduled anti-prostitution stings; and that a retired OPD captain in his 80s paid $250 to have sex with her in a rundown San Pablo Avenue motel.
Guap is not her real name. She posts her status updates frequently on Facebook and has been commenting throughout the scandal on social media.
The Oakland Police department did not name the latest officer on leave, but it comes days after Police Chief Sean Whent left the department in a sudden and tight-lipped announcement.
Sources told both news organization that Whent's ouster was at the behest of the federal monitor overseeing the department over a growing sex scandal involving Guap, the daughter of a police dispatcher, who said she exchanged sex with officers for being tipped off about prostitution rings so that she could avoid arrest.
Guap also told NBC Bay Area she befriended Whent's wife on Facebook and told her that she was dating an Oakland police officer when she was just 17.
Of the five Oakland officers who have been placed on paid administrative leave, two have resigned from the force. An unnammed Contra Costa County Sheriff's deputy was also placed on leave.
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"The Oakland Police Department can confirm that another officer has been placed on administrative leave as part of our ongoing investigation into the alleged sexual misconduct case involving Oakland police officers," a Police Department statement said. "The Internal Affairs Division will continue to investigate all of the misconduct allegations. The Oakland Police Department is committed to transparency. However, a complete investigative process requires confidentiality in order to maintain the integrity of the investigation."
Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly told NBC Bay Area that deputy Eric Chaloner had a Facebook relationship with Guap and that they chatted. But there is no reason to believe, he added, that there was sexting or sexual activity with her while she was a minor. Kelly added the deputy has done nothing wrong other than a lapse in judgment.
The Contra Costa Sheriff's Office confirmed in a statement Monday that it was investigating the allegations against its officer.
"We are aware of the allegation against our employee and are awaiting the criminal investigation interview by Oakland PD," the statement said. "We will be conducting our own administrative investigation immediately. We take the allegation seriously and will not tolerate this alleged conduct by our employee, as we uphold the highest ethical standards."
Mayor Libby Schaaf originally told reporters on Friday that Whent’s departure had nothing to do with the sex scandal.
