Ex-Bell Police Officer Sentenced For Sex Assault

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former officer with the Bell Police Department has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison for sexually assaulting a driver while on duty.

The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles says 35-year-old Feliciano Sanchez was sentenced Thursday in Los Angeles.

Sanchez pleaded guilty to violating the female victim's civil rights under color of law.

Prosecutors say Sanchez stopped the woman for a traffic violation in 2007, then drove her in his patrol car to a remote spot where he put a hand on his gun and sexually assaulted her.

Sanchez was a Bell police officer for 3 1/2 years but was fired in 2007.

Bell is about five miles southeast of Los Angeles.

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