Deputy Quits Amid Assault Accusation : Resignation: The officer, placed on leave last week after woman’s claim of sex attack, was a 10-year veteran of Sheriff’s Department. Cypress police are still investigating.

An Orange County sheriff’s deputy--placed on paid leave a week ago after a woman accused him of sexual assault--abruptly resigned Friday, department officials announced.

Although no charges have been filed in the case, Cypress Police detectives say they are continuing to investigate the allegation against the 39-year-old deputy, whom Sheriff’s Department officials would not identify. The deputy had been with the department for more than 10 years.

Investigators are expected to file a report with the Orange County district attorney’s office next week, Cypress Police Capt. Bob Bandurraga said. Prosecutors will then decide if criminal charges are warranted.

A spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Lt. Dick Olson, said the resignation was submitted at 4:15 p.m. Friday. No reason for the resignation was given and no details were available.

The general manager of the Assn. of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, Bob MacLeod, declined comment because the criminal investigation is ongoing.

MacLeod said the union may interview the accuser, but would not say if the deputy has asked the group for help in defending him.

“An allegation like this isn’t anything ordinary at all,” MacLeod said. “And anytime there’s a criminal investigation of one our members, we are very concerned.”

A 22-year-old woman called the Sheriff’s Department Sept. 2 alleging that an assault and forced oral copulation occurred at 4:20 a.m that day behind a Target store at Katella Avenue and Knott Street, officials said. The area borders the city of Stanton, which is patrolled by the Sheriff’s Department.

The Sheriff’s Department contacted Cypress police, then started its own internal investigation, which might have resulted in a dismissal if the deputy was found to have violated departmental regulations, Olson said.

“We’re always concerned when anyone makes allegations like this, that’s why the investigations are set up like they are,” Olson said.

The deputy was relieved of his duty and placed on paid leave Sept. 3, pending the outcome of the investigation. Information on the deputy’s work record is unavailable, Olson said.

But his resignation has changed the situation, MacLeod contended.

“I don’t see the purpose of an administrative investigation continuing,” he said.

Both said that sexual accusations against deputies in the department are rare. Last week’s allegation was the third reported against an Orange County sheriff’s deputy since 1987.

On July 6, 1990, former deputy Bret McCammon 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 over 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.

On Nov. 25, 1987, a Superior Court jury acquitted another former deputy, Robert J. Minty, 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 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 obey his demands.