Officer to Face Rape Charges
A Los Angeles police officer was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on charges that he raped three women while on duty earlier this year.
Superior Court Judge H. Chester Horn Jr. ruled that there was enough evidence for Joseph Evan Robinson to be tried on 14 counts, including two counts of kidnapping to commit a crime and three counts of rape by threatening arrest.
Robinson, 26, is being held in County Jail in lieu of $3-million bail. He is scheduled to return to court July 9 for arraignment.
Prosecutors allege that Robinson, a three-year LAPD officer assigned to the 77th Street Division, sexually assaulted three women between January and May.
According to testimony in a preliminary hearing Tuesday, the women feared being arrested or thrown in jail if they did not have sex with him. Speaking of one of the alleged victims, LAPD Sgt. Mike Zych told the court, “She indicated that she was afraid, that she didn’t want to go to jail.... She was intimidated by the officer.”
The LAPD began investigating the case in January after the first victim alleged she had been assaulted. Robinson was charged in May, prosecutors said.
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