Ex-Deputy Sentenced to Prison
A judge sentenced a former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy to 2 1/2 years in state prison for molesting a teenage motorist and filing a false police report .
Juan-Antonio E. Jimenez, formerly assigned to the Malibu-Lost Hills Station, was convicted last month by a Van Nuys jury of misdemeanor sexual battery for digitally penetrating a 16-year-old girl during a December 2002 traffic stop in the Topanga Canyon area.
Jurors also convicted Jimenez on a felony charge of filing a false police report in October 2002. Jimenez failed to disclose that a woman riding in his patrol car witnessed an arrest he made in Agoura, authorities said.
The panel deadlocked 6 to 6 on a charge of a second sexual battery committed during a Sept. 16, 2002, traffic stop. The case also involved digital penetration of a female motorist.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Elizabeth Munisoglu said the deputy’s actions gave law enforcement a bad name.
“The ramifications of this kind of behavior are serious,” she said. “They cast a pall on the public perception of law enforcement officers, the vast majority of whom do the right thing.”
Jimenez, who was fired from the Sheriff’s Department, must register as a sex offender, authorities said.
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