We’ve heard about white guys with an Asian fetish, but how about a police officer with an Asian fetish? This week, the city of Oakland decided to settle a suit, as reported In “Oakland will pay $2 million settlement in police groping suit“:
“The city will pay $2 million to settle a federal lawsuit brought by 16 Asian-American women who said a former Oakland police officer groped or sexually harassed them, under a deal approved by the City Council on Tuesday. It will be the second payment Oakland has made to settle claims involving former Officer Richard Valerga, who resigned from the department in 2005. Oakland paid a $190,000 settlement to two other women in 2006 to settle similar claims. City Attorney John Russo said it was in the city’s best interest to settle the most recent suit in order to avoid a larger penalty down the road — and to avoid humiliating the plaintiffs publicly.”
If there were 18 women complaining and later filing suits against the city of Oakland for Officer Valerga’s behavior, I really wonder how many women he actually harassed? Why has it taken so long for this suit to be settled in the first place? (Though given the current crime situation in Oakland, I am sure the city and police department have their hands full…)
In the criminal case in 2005, Valerga pleaded guilty two misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment and two misdemeanor civil rights violations. He was sentenced in 2006 to three years probation and six months in jail. Hopefully Valerga is not a police officer today, but in this country, you never know!?!?
About John
I'm a Taiwanese-American and was born & raised in Western Massachusetts, went to college in upstate New York, worked in Connecticut, went to grad school in North Carolina and then moved out to the Bay Area in 1999 and have been living here ever since - love the weather and almost everything about the area (except the high cost of housing...)
