DA Declines To File Charges Against Oakland Officer Tied To Sex Scandal
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- An Oakland police officer who's been linked to a police sexual exploitation scandal won't be charged, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office said Friday.
District Attorney Nancy O'Malley named Warit Uttapa on Sept. 9 when she announced that she planned to file criminal charges against seven current and former law enforcement officers for their alleged involvement with the teenage daughter of an Oakland police dispatcher.
The dispatcher's daughter, who's now 19, has said that she had sex with a total of about 30 men in law enforcement, some while she was underage and others in exchange for protection or information.
O'Malley said she expected to charge Uttapa with a single count of knowingly conducting a search of official criminal justice computer systems without an authorized purpose.
But her spokeswoman, Teresa Drenick, said Friday, "Certain facts regarding the accessed information recently came to light, and have led us to the conclusion that we are not able to proceed with the filing of criminal charges."
A spokeswoman for the Oakland Police Department said Uttapa is still employed as an officer with the department.
O'Malley has filed charges against the other six officers she named in September.
The most recent to be charged is Terryl Smith, 30, of Citrus Heights, who faces five misdemeanor counts of unauthorized furnishing of a local criminal record for accessing law enforcement databases five times between January and April and turning over information to the dispatcher's daughter, informing her about her criminal record.
Smith was scheduled to be arraigned in Alameda County Superior Court in Fremont Friday but the District Attorney's Office hasn't yet confirmed that he's been arraigned or said when his next court date is.
O'Malley said in September that her investigators uncovered evidence that Uttapa and Smith engaged in sexual contact with the teenage woman but the alleged incidents occurred in Contra Costa County, where she doesn't have jurisdiction.
Contra Costa County District Attorney Mark Peterson recently decided not to file any charges against Uttapa and Smith.
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