Former LAX Police Officer Pleads No Contest in Sex Case

A former Los Angeles International Airport police officer pleaded no contest Wednesday to charges that he sexually assaulted two women in separate incidents while he patrolled the airport in 1988.

Robert Julian Lopez, 32, is expected to receive a two-year prison sentence when he returns on June 18 to Los Angeles Superior Court, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Yochelson.

Lopez was hired by the airport police department, which patrols LAX, in 1984.

The first incident occurred on May 22, 1988, when Lopez approached a teen-age couple who sat in a parked car after their high school prom watching jets take off, Yochelson said.

Lopez told the man to remain in the car while he searched the 18-year-old woman in his patrol car. The teen-ager testified at a preliminary hearing that Lopez fondled her, Yochelson said.

On Oct. 8, 1988, Lopez again approached a young couple in a car and told the man to stay put while he brought the woman to his patrol car. Lopez handcuffed the 21-year-old woman and forced her to perform a sex act, Yochelson said.

The woman identified Lopez a few hours later at the airport police headquarters. Authorities showed the victim in the first case Lopez’s picture and she also identified him as her attacker.

Lopez was fired after his arrest. He remains free on $15,000 bail pending sentencing.