OAKLAND — The former Contra Costa County deputy sheriff involved in a Bay Area sex exploitation scandal was charged with a new felony this week — unlawful sex with a minor.
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office filed the new felony charge against Ricardo Perez, 29, on Monday. He had already been charged with felony oral copulation with a minor on suspicion of alleged sexual contact with a 19-year-old Richmond woman at the center of the scandal. Perez, who has since resigned from the sheriff’s office, also is charged with two misdemeanor counts of engaging in lewd conduct.
He is the only former law enforcement officer so far to be charged with two felonies.
Last month, the woman formerly referred to as Celeste Guap testified that she and Perez were “friends with benefits” and met on several occasions to have sex in the backseat of his car in a secluded area of the Oakland Hills, namely Grizzly Peak. The woman, who is the daughter of an Oakland police dispatcher, went into graphic detail and described how the two communicated through Facebook, and then text messages, starting in July 2015. She testified that they had sex and engaged in other sexual acts when she was 17, upwards of seven times.
The two exchanged sexual text messages, and traded explicit photos, she said. He often would comment on how he liked certain parts of her body, she testified.
When she told him in January 2016 that she had been 17 at the time they had sex, his attitude “was like, ‘whatever,’” she said.
“He didn’t seem shocked,” the woman said.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Joan Cartwright held Perez to answer on all his charges at the time last month. The second felony was added Monday and was alleged to have occurred between July 1 and July 31, 2015, according to court documents, when the woman was 17.
During the preliminary hearing in July, Perez’ defense attorney, Joe Motta, said there was no evidence to indicate that his client should have known she was 17 during the time they were having sex. He described the sexual messages as adult modern-day “pillow talk.”
Perez is one of at least six law enforcement officers from the East Bay charged in connection to the scandal, in addition to a retired sergeant.
Giovanni LoVerde, of Oakland police, is the only other officer facing the more serious felony charge, of felony oral copulation with a minor.
