City settles with victim of alleged rape by officer

Santa Maria officials announced Nov. 23 that a settlement had been reached in the case of a teenage Police Explorer who claimed she was sexually assaulted multiple times by a supervising officer and that the police department allowed the abuse to occur. City Attorney Gil Trujillo said in a prepared statement that the city agreed to pay the unnamed victim and her attorneys a sum of $185,000 plus the costs of mediation “in an effort to put this unfortunate chain of events behind us.”

click to enlarge City settles with victim of alleged rape by officer
FILE PHOTO
SETTLED: : The city of Santa Maria reached a settlement with the family of Jane Doe, the 17-year-old Police Explorer who was allegedly raped by Santa Maria police officer Albert Covarrubias, Jr. (pictured). Covarrubias was later killed by a fellow officer during a confrontation.

“Unfortunately, there are no winners in this situation, and the City sees this settlement as a just resolution to a very tragic situation,” Trujillo wrote.

By settling, the city doesn’t admit to any wrongdoing or negligence.

Bradley Gage, an attorney for the victim, told the Sun he could have pushed the case further and won more money for his client, but courtroom battles reliving the assaults would only add to her suffering.

“It’s more important to have the case behind her than to continue with a lengthy litigation for what could have been a larger settlement,” Gage said. “We did not want to subject this young woman to further trauma and turmoil.”

Gage and his associates filed a complaint in federal court on Aug. 12, alleging officer Albert Covarrubias, Jr., used his position to manipulate the victim, develop a false sense of trust, and intimidate her into succumbing to his lewd demands. She said she was assaulted multiple times throughout the month of January 2012. The victim reported that Covarrubias threatened to harm her loved ones if she refused his advances or told anyone about their relationship. He allegedly said he wouldn’t be punished because he was a police officer and had friends in the department.

The complaint alleges that Covarrubias often arranged to have the victim alone in his patrol vehicle past midnight, a violation of Explorer Program policies intended to protect vulnerable minors from abuse by authority figures. Other officers were allegedly involved in such arrangements and had reasonable cause to suspect Covarrubias was up to no good, including inappropriate comments he made about her appearance. Still, Covarrubias was allowed to remain active in the Explorer Program and to supervise the victim. The complaint blamed a department-wide “code of silence,” which punished officers who shed light on misbehavior among their brothers in blue.

In late January, the department began investigating Covarrubias, but Gage alleged that at least one sexual assault was allowed to occur after the investigation was underway.

When the department decided it had sufficient evidence to arrest Covarrubias, officers were dispatched to confront him; he resisted and was shot to death by another officer. The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s office later concluded the use of deadly force was justified. Former Police Chief Danny Macagni stepped down amid the resulting controversy.

“I certainly hope the new chief will implement policies that will protect the Explorers and prevent this kind of thing from happening again,” Gage said.

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