OTHER O.C. OFFICERS ACCUSED OF SEX CRIMES

Since 1987, at least four police officers in Orange County have been embroiled in criminal cases charging them with a variety of sex crimes, ranging from molestation to rape.

July 6, 1990. Bret McCammon, a former Orange County sheriff’s deputy, confessed to stealing from jail inmates and engaging in oral copulation with another inmate who was suffering from a degenerative disease that left him mentally impaired. McCammon turned himself in to authorities 2 1/2 years after the incident in an apparent act of religious repentance. He pleaded guilty to one count of sexual misconduct and was sentenced to a year in jail.

Feb. 23, 1990. Geoffery Alan Lynch, 26, formerly a Garden Grove police officer, resigned when he was accused of forcing women motorists to expose themselves during trumped-up drug searches. He allegedly demanded that they pull down their undergarments and turn back and forth to prove they were not concealing drugs. He has pleaded not guilty to four counts of false imprisonment--felonies that could result in six years in prison and a $4,000 fine.

March 2, 1989. Former Orange police officer Gordon Whaley, 29, pleaded no contest to three counts of sexual battery stemming from his fondling of a 22-year-old woman during a traffic stop. Whaley performed a pat-down search of the victim after he saw marijuana fall from the glove compartment of her car. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail.

Nov. 25, 1987. A Superior Court jury acquitted Robert J. Minty, 38, a former Orange County sheriff’s deputy, on charges that he raped a woman under color of authority. He admitted to spending the night with the 21-year-old woman in a Westminster motel but he said she had sex with him willingly. The woman, who was a suspect in a misdemeanor case Minty was investigating, testified that she feared he would send her to jail if she did not comply with his demands. Minty’s attorney, Byron K. McMillan, said his client “resigned because he realized that he used very, very poor judgment and that he should not be in law enforcement. But poor judgment does not make him a rapist.”