Ex-LAPD Officer Gets 2-Year Prison Sentence For Sex With Cadet
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – A former Los Angeles police officer will serve two years in prison for having sex with a teen cadet who was part of the department's major scandal last year.
As part of a deal with prosecutors, 32-year-old Robert Cain plead no contest Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court to charges of oral copulation of a person under 16 and unlawful sexual intercourse. He will also be required to register as a sex offender. He was also ordered to stay away from the victim for 10 years.
Cain, a 10-year veteran of the department, had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl who was in the LAPD cadet program, prosecutors said. The victim read a statement in court Wednesday. It read, in part:
"Monsters do not care about anything and have no problem hurting anyone. You took so much away from me and that's something I will never get back. You were an officer, someone who promises to protect people like me from people like you."
The sexual abuse occurred on June 14, 2017, at Magic Mountain, prosecutors said.
"It's not only a crime, it's a moral outrage for a grown man in his 30s to take advantage of a 15-year-old little girl," the victim's attorney Luis Carrillo told reporters following the hearing.
"It was the fact that she was very afraid because there was a gun in the car, and he threatened her not to say anything about this incident, about his abuse," Carrillo added.
If convicted as originally charged, Cain could have faced up to seven years and eight months in state prison.
The LAPD issued a statement saying Cain's sentencing "closes the chapter of a disturbing incident within our ranks."
"While the department will not comment on the specifics of the sentence, we do believe anytime an officer betrays the trust of the people we
serve, it tears away at the fabric of our community," according to the LAPD. "The department remains committed to maintaining and further building our residents' faith in our professionalism and integrity."
The girl was one of seven juvenile police cadets arrested in June 2017 for their alleged involvement in stealing LAPD squad cars, which culminated in two high speed chases and crashes. The cadets are believed to have pulled people over while impersonating officers, and also are suspected of stealing LAPD equipment, including tasers, radios and a bulletproof vest.
Carrillo Wednesday told reporters his client was never involved or charged in the theft of the squad cars.
Cain had already been sentenced to jail on unrelated weapons charges earlier this year. In January, Cain was sentenced to two years in county jail and four years of supervised release following his no contest plea in a San Bernardino County courtroom to one felony count each of manufacturing of an assault weapon and possession of multi-burst trigger device or "bump stock."
Eight other weapons-related charges were dismissed as a result of the former officer's plea.
It was unclear if his new sentence would run concurrently or consecutively with the one out of San Bernardino County.
MORE: LAPD Cadet Scandal
Then Chief Charlie Beck personally arrested Cain on June 22, 2017. The LAPD searched Cain's Rancho Cucamonga home and found more than 100 weapons, police said, some of which were not legal to own in California, resulting in the weapons charges.
Cain resigned from the force following his arrest.
Meanwhile, the now-16-year-old victim filed a lawsuit against the city earlier this year, alleging sexual harassment, negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress and civil rights violations. The lawsuit did not name Cain as a defendant.
The girl claims in the lawsuit that Cain's relationship with the plaintiff began in January 2017 and ended five months later, during which time he took her to places like Magic Mountain, gave her gifts and sent her inappropriate texts messages, the suit states.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
