Deputy who 'forced women prisoners to perform oral sex' is charged with sexually assaulting six inmates at Los Angeles prison
- Giancarlo Scotti, 31, denies six felony counts and two misdemeanor counts of sexual activity with a detainee in a detention facility
- He is accused of forcing inmates to perform oral sex and other abuses
- Inmates cannot legally consent to sex with deputies under state and federal law
A Los Angeles sheriff's deputy has been charged with sexually assaulting six inmates within six months, police have said.
Giancarlo Scotti, 31, faces six felony counts and two misdemeanor counts of sexual activity with a detainee in a detention facility, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said.
Scotti's defense attorney, Anthony Falangetti, said his client - who is now on bail - would vigorously deny the charges.
Giancarlo Scotti was accused by lawyers representing the women he was alleged to have abused as being 'the worst of the worst in terms of law enforcement abuse by an individual that was actually tasked with protecting these women'
The abuse is alleged to have taken place at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, California
Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell announced last September the arrest of Giancarlo Scotti, who has now been charged with unlawful sexual activity with detainees
'Sheriff's Deputy Giancarlo Scotti never sexually assaulted anybody,' Falangetti told the Los Angeles Times.
The alleged assaults were reported to have taken place at the Century Regional Detention Facility between March and September last year.
Scotti, who had been working in the department for 10 years, was arrested in September after two women informed a teaching instructor that they had been allegedly attacked.
Police said the two women shared a cell and Scotti was able 'to put himself in a place where he was alone' with them. The attacks took place over the course of an hour, they said.
Prosecutors Wednesday said that Scotti ordered the two inmates to perform oral sex on him and that he later took them to a shower area and had 'unlawful' sex with both of them.
Scotti, 31, vehemently denies the allegation - he faces up to seven years in jail if he is convicted
In August, the lawsuit alleged, a pregnant inmate was changing inside her cell when he approached and ordered her to expose her genitals to him.
Scotti then opened his pants and ordered her to get on her knees, according to the lawsuit. The woman took Scotti's words as an order to perform oral sex and 'felt like she had no other choice but to comply with Deputy Scotti's forcible commands', the lawsuit said.
The second plaintiff in the lawsuit accused Scotti of sexually assaulting her in a shower at the jail the day before his arrest. She saved some of Scotti's semen on a piece of tissue paper, which she provided to investigators, according to the suit.
Inmates cannot legally consent to sexual intercourse with deputies under state and federal law.
A third woman filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in November alleging that Scotti forced her to perform oral sex on him at least a month before his arrest, Losangeles.cbslocal.com reported.
Nishida said Wednesday that Scotti remained on paid leave. He faces up to seven years in jail if he is convicted.
Justin Sterling, an attorney representing the two plaintiffs, welcomed the charges Wednesday.
'This case represents the worst of the worst in terms of law enforcement abuse by an individual that was actually tasked with protecting these women,' he said. 'It's the start of the process that ultimately gets them one step closer to justice.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5422131/Los-Angeles-Deputy-denies-sexually-assaulting-6-inmates.html#ixzz57s1CaCql
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