Update: Another victim is speaking out on the release of Anthony Arevalos
SAN DIEGO (KUSI) — Tuesday — Another sexual assault victim of a former San Diego Police Officer is reacting to his early release from jail.
Another Arevalos was set free on Sunday. He was serving time for sexual battery and assault.
One of his victims, who wishes to remain anonymous, released a statement through her attorney, Linda Workman, saying in part, "She is devastated, not only by his early release, but that she was not notified by the distrait attorney’s office or any other law enforcement authorities."
Monday — A former San Diego police officer sent to prison four years ago for sexually assaulting women during traffic stops in the Gaslamp District was released from custody over the weekend, authorities said Monday.
Anthony Arevalos, 45, was discharged from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility on Sunday, three days after being transferred to the Otay Mesa penitentiary from Avenal State Prison in Kings County, corrections Lt. Philip Bracamonte said.
Arevalos was convicted in November 2011 of eight felony and four misdemeanor charges involving five women, including multiple counts of sexual battery by restraint, soliciting a bribe and assault and battery by a peace officer. Three months later, he was sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison.
It was not immediately clear why the former lawman served less than half the prescribed custody term, though he had no disciplinary issues on his prison record, Bracamonte said.
Arevalos had been an officer with the San Diego Police Department for 18 years when he was fired over accusations that he had tried to extort sexual favors from female motorists and sexually assaulted three of them.
During his sentencing hearing, the defendant, in a tearful and halting statement, apologized to the victims, his family and his police colleagues.
"I realize how many people I’ve hurt with what I’ve done,” Arevalos said. "I just want to say I’m sorry to all I hurt.”
10/28/2014 — A $5.9 million legal settlement for a woman who was sexually assaulted by a then-San Diego police officer in the Gaslamp Quarter three years ago was approved Tuesday by the City Council.
The settlement, outlined last month, brings to an end to civil litigation involving former SDPD Officer Anthony Arevalos, who was convicted of felony counts involving the woman and several other victims and sentenced to prison.
The woman, identified throughout the proceedings only as Jane Doe, testified in Arevalos’ criminal trial that he forced her into a convenience store restroom in March 2011 and demanded that she give him her panties and show her breasts. He also placed his finger in her vaginal, she said.
Because of the nature of the officer’s actions, city officials had feared that the woman could have won a large jury award if the case went to trial.
Instead, the city’s insurance carriers will pick up around $5.7 million of the settlement, leaving the city to pay around $200,000, City Attorney Jan Goldsmith said. He said that in all the Arevalos cases combined, including 14 settlements and expenses, the city had to shell out around $4 million.
10/22/2015 — $5.9 million legal settlement for a woman who was sexually assaulted by a then-San Diego police officer in the Gaslamp Quarter three years ago is scheduled for final approval by the City Council next Tuesday.
The settlement, outlined last month, brings to an end to civil litigation involving former SDPD Officer Anthony Arevalos, who was convicted of felony counts involving the woman and several other victims and sentenced to prison.
The woman, identified throughout the proceedings only as Jane Doe, testified in Arevalos’ criminal trial that he forced her into a convenience store restroom in March 2011 and demanded that she give him her panties and show her breasts. He also placed his finger in her vaginal area, she said.
Because of the nature of the officer’s actions, city officials had feared that the woman could have won a large jury award if the case went to trial.
Instead, the city’s insurance carriers will pick up around $5.7 million of the settlement, leaving the city to pay around $200,000, City Attorney Jan Goldsmith said. He said that in all the Arevalos cases combined, including 14 settlements and expenses, the city had to shell out around $4 million.
The City Council agenda item says seven council members authorized the settlement offer at a closed-session meeting that took place on Aug. 7. However, the City Attorney’s Office did not disclose any reportable actions in the public session that followed.
A spokesman for the City Attorney’s Office said the closed-session didn’t need to be reported publicly because the settlement wasn’t final at that time, a clause in the municipal code.
Lawyers for the city, its insurance company and the plaintiff held a news conference on Sept. 25 to announce the deal.
9/26/2014 — The San Diego City Council Tuesday authorized a $98,000 payment to former Mayor Bob Filner’s lawyers and $795,000 to a victim of ex-police Officer Anthony Arevalos, who demanded sexual favors from women he pulled over while on the job.
As part of the arrangement that led Filner to leave office Aug. 30, the city agreed to pay up to $98,000 of his legal fees.
Councilman Scott Sherman called the $98,000 "an absolute bargain," saying the city needed to move on from the "sorry, sorry chapter in our history."
"I’m glad that the stain of Bob Filner is away from the city," Sherman said.
Filner hired San Diego lawyer Harvey Berger after he was accused of sexual harassment in July. Later, when he and the city were sued by his former communications director, Irene McCormack Jackson, he hired attorney James Payne of Irvine.
The McCormack Jackson lawsuit is pending. She alleges Filner told her she should work without her panties on, that he wanted to see her naked and that he could not wait to consummate their relationship.
Filner also allegedly demanded kisses from McCormack Jackson and put his arm around the former reporter and dragged her along in a headlock while making sexual remarks.
It’s possible others among the nearly 20 alleged sexual harassment victims could sue.
The agreement that resulted in Filner’s resignation also called for the City Attorney’s Office to defend him in civil litigation.
In a criminal case, the ex-mayor pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of false imprisonment by violence and two misdemeanor counts of battery. He was sentenced Monday to three years probation and 90 days home confinement.
A much larger sum — $795,000 — will go to a woman identified as "Jane Roe," who accused Arevalos of sexually assaulting her in the back of a car while she was being arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in February 2010.
Her lawsuit was one of 10 against the city involving the ex-cop, who was sentenced to almost nine years in prison for demanding sexual favors from women he pulled over for DUI violations in the Gaslamp Quarter.
The woman’s settlement, approved in September by U.S. Magistrate Judge William Gallo, is the largest payment in the $2.3 million the city has agreed to pay.
A lawsuit by a victim of Arevalos has not been resolved.
The council also approved a $535,000 settlement for Travelers Insurance.
The company paid a claim to the owners of an architectural firm damaged by a water main break in August 2010 in the 5000 block of Santa Fe Street.
In a fourth settlement, the council authorized a $310,000 payment to a woman rear-ended by a San Diego police lieutenant who was found to have been traveling at an unsafe speed for the conditions in April 2012. The nature of the victim’s injuries were not disclosed.
9/25/2016 — The last of legal cases filed against the city involving rogue police officer Anthony Arevalos has been settled.
The cop who sexually assaulted several young women that he was suppose to protect has now cost taxpayers $4 million.
The settlement will bring to close the 13 remaining cases against the police departments poster boy for police misconduct.
The department will now have to work to re-gain the people’s trust.
It was the city’s insurance carriers who negotiated this settlement announced by the city’s lead lawyer, in this case, Mitch Dean.
$5.9 million to settle with Jane Doe, but $5.7 million of which will be picked by the insurance companies.
"This amount reflects compensation to Jane Doe for her long term emotional and psychological injuries but also includes $3 million dollars for attorneys fees and court costs incurred by Jane Doe’s lawyers," said Dean.
The city’s share of that $5.9 million is $200,000, but when all claims from all the women Arevalos sexually assaulted the cost to taxpayers goes up.
"It cost taxpayers, all of the victims combined, the total out of pocket costs for the carriers will be $5.7 million, the city was $4-million total," said Goldsmith.
The settlement means no trial, which could have driven the cost to taxpayers into the millions after years litigation and possible compensatory damages for past and future wages for Jane Doe.
While he roamed the Gaslamp District, Arevalos preyed on young women. He had a reputation for singling out young women for DUI’s, but it was Jane Doe who brought him down.
Doe’s lawyer, Linda Workman, said this settlement goes beyond her client.
"It was about all the other Jane Doe’s, all the nameless victims, she wanted to make sure this never happened again,and I think this settlement sends a very loud message about the toll of this abuse of power takes on victims and on society," said Workman.
Chief of Police said, "I as chief of police, and we as a police department are not going to tolerate this misconduct and betrayal of our badge and our noble profession."
Settling out of court avoids a federal monitor to over see the police department which typically runs into the millions every year.
9/24/2014 — Attorneys plan Thursday to reveal details of a tentative settlement reached in a federal lawsuit filed by one of the victims of a then-San Diego police officer convicted of soliciting sexual favors from women during traffic stops in the Gaslamp Quarter.
Lawyers involved in the case of "Jane Doe" against former Officer Anthony Arevalos and the city of San Diego have scheduled an afternoon news conference at the City Attorney’s Office.
The 18-year veteran officer was convicted in November 2011 of felony and misdemeanor charges involving five women he stopped in the Gaslamp District, including multiple counts of sexual battery by restraint, asking for a bribe, and assault and battery by a police officer. He was acquitted of other serious charges involving two women.
The victim, identified as Jane Doe because of the nature of her allegations, testified in Arevalos’ criminal trial that he forced her into a convenience store restroom in March 2011 and demanded that she give him her panties and show her breasts. He also placed his finger in her vaginal area, she said.
Because of the nature of the officer’s actions, city officials had feared that the woman could have won a large jury award if the case went to trial.
Lawyers first announced a tentative settlement almost two months ago, about two weeks before a trial was scheduled to begin.
The agreement was scheduled to be considered by the San Diego City Council in closed session at a special meeting set for Aug. 7, but no action was later reported in public. The case does not appear on any subsequent closed session dockets.
The City Council has approved about a dozen settlements with women connected to the case.
2/26/2014 — A Superior Court judge Tuesday overturned convictions on two counts against a former San Diego police officer who sought a new trial because handwritten notes from his main accuser were not turned over to the defense.
Judge Jeffrey Fraser wrote in his 12-page ruling that he was not confident a jury would have convicted 18-year veteran Anthony Arevalos on those counts if his defense team had access to the notes.
Arevalos was sentenced to nearly nine years in prison for sexually assaulting and harassing women during DUI traffic stops in the Gaslamp District.
The judge said Arevalos should be resentenced on the remaining counts on which he was found guilty.
Arevalos was convicted in November 2011 of felony and misdemeanor charges involving five women, including multiple counts of sexual battery by restraint, asking for a bribe and assault and battery by a police officer. He was acquitted of other serious charges involving two other women.
The 4th District Court of Appeal ordered a hearing before Fraser to determine whether Arevalos should get a new trial because notes written by "Jane Doe" right after her encounter with the defendant were not turned over to the defense at trial.
The notes surfaced during a federal lawsuit the woman has filed against the city of San Diego.
Nowhere in the handwritten notes does she say that Arevalos actually touched her genitalia, the defendant’s appellate attorney, Pat Ford, argued before Fraser.
Arevalos’ trial attorney, Gretchen von Helms, testified that the notes would have been key in defending Arevalos, since he did not admitting touching Jane Doe’s genitalia during a "pretext" call set up by police.
"He doesn’t say I touched it," von Helms testified at the hearing. "These notes would have given me ammunition. This is very powerful. I’m supposed to have it. It would be huge that he didn’t touch her."
Deputy District Attorney Martin Doyle argued that the notes not being produced was not enough to warrant a new trial for Arevalos. The prosecutor noted that Jane Doe didn’t initially tell her boyfriend or others about being touched by Arevalos, but jurors still found her testimony credible.
Doyle said mistakes are often made by both sides at trial, many of them resulting in harmless error.
"He (Arevalos) was entitled to a fair trial, not a perfect one," Doyle told the judge.
The prosecutor said having Jane Doe’s notes wouldn’t have made a difference in the jury verdict.
Fraser, however, wrote that "the omission of the vaginal touching from her notes supports the claim Jane Doe fabricated the sexual battery offense in order to bolster the criminal case and her civil suit against (the city)."
He also wrote that because she was the only live witness to any alleged vaginal touching, "she was such a critical prosecution witness that if the jury did not believe her, the jury would not have convicted (Arevalos) on these counts."
The judge noted that the defense might have been alerted to the notes’ existence by a police sergeant’s statement, so it does not appear that prosecutors intentionally withheld them.
The two counts in question were sexual battery by restraint and assault and battery by a peace officer. Arevalos was given three years on the sexual battery conviction and a consecutive eight months for assault and battery.
12/10/2013 — The San Diego City Council Tuesday authorized a $98,000 payment to former Mayor Bob Filner’s lawyers and $795,000 to a victim of ex-police Officer Anthony Arevalos, who demanded sexual favors from women he pulled over while on the job.
As part of the arrangement that led Filner to leave office Aug. 30, the city agreed to pay up to $98,000 of his legal fees.
Councilman Scott Sherman called the $98,000 "an absolute bargain," saying the city needed to move on from the "sorry, sorry chapter in our history."
"I’m glad that the stain of Bob Filner is away from the city," Sherman said.
Filner hired San Diego lawyer Harvey Berger after he was accused of sexual harassment in July. Later, when he and the city were sued by his former communications director, Irene McCormack Jackson, he hired attorney James Payne of Irvine.
The McCormack Jackson lawsuit is pending. She alleges Filner told her she should work without her panties on, that he wanted to see her naked and that he could not wait to consummate their relationship.
Filner also allegedly demanded kisses from McCormack Jackson and put his arm around the former reporter and dragged her along in a headlock while making sexual remarks.
It’s possible others among the nearly 20 alleged sexual harassment victims could sue.
The agreement that resulted in Filner’s resignation also called for the City Attorney’s Office to defend him in civil litigation.
In a criminal case, the ex-mayor pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of false imprisonment by violence and two misdemeanor counts of battery. He was sentenced Monday to three years probation and 90 days home confinement.
A much larger sum — $795,000 — will go to a woman identified as "Jane Roe," who accused Arevalos of sexually assaulting her in the back of a car while she was being arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in February 2010.
Her lawsuit was one of 10 against the city involving the ex-cop, who was sentenced to almost nine years in prison for demanding sexual favors from women he pulled over for DUI violations in the Gaslamp Quarter.
The woman’s settlement, approved in September by U.S. Magistrate Judge William Gallo, is the largest payment in the $2.3 million the city has agreed to pay.
A lawsuit by a victim of Arevalos has not been resolved.
The council also approved a $535,000 settlement for Travelers Insurance.
The company paid a claim to the owners of an architectural firm damaged by a water main break in August 2010 in the 5000 block of Santa Fe Street.
In a fourth settlement, the council authorized a $310,000 payment to a woman rear-ended by a San Diego police lieutenant who was found to have been traveling at an unsafe speed for the conditions in April 2012. The nature of the victim’s injuries were not disclosed.
