INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Another Sex Scandal for Oakland Police: Officer Ryan Walterhouse Charged With Two Felony Counts And Engaging In Prostitution

By Christine Beswick
Published on: 04:03 PST, Oct 23, 2016

Officer Ryan Walterhouse of the Oakland Police has his name added to a long list of police officers in a department that has been embroiled in one sex scandal after another over the past year. The Inquisitr previously reported about the police chief being fired after six days on the job for a sex scandal in June of this year. In a separate report by the Inquisitr, several Oakland Police officers were connected to a sex scandal with a minor.

This week, in an unrelated sex scandal, 26-year-old Officer Ryan Walterhouse was charged after a sting operation on prostitution in Oakland, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

He is being charged with engaging in prostitution, a misdemeanor, and also with felony conspiracy and felony obstruction of justice. The San Francisco Chronicle says he is being accused of conspiring with a prostitute, with whom he allegedly had a relationship for over approximately six months, and warning her when fellow police officers would be out so she wouldn’t get busted for prostitution.

He is accused of warning the woman twice last week, reports the San Francisco Chronicle, and was arrested when he showed up to report for duty on Wednesday, October 19. His arrest was the result of several weeks of investigation, that included home surveillance reports the Chronicle.

The police department was tipped off about one of their fellow officers possibly engaging in misconduct through a fellow department member. Ryan Walterhouse is being accused of committing these crimes while on active duty.

Not only did he allegedly engage in prostitution, but he is also being accused of calling her and texting her during times when undercover stings to stop prostitution were in progress. The Chronicle reports that court documents show that on October 13, he allegedly called an “unidentified woman” and said, “You might want to call it an early night tonight. You might want to stick to the online thing right now.”

He also allegedly texted the woman with messages warnings such as, “I’ll let you know when n to…not yet, they still out, probably after 12.” It was a fellow officer, Officer Omega Crum, that noticed some of Walterhouse’s alleged conspiracies. Officer Crum swore in an affidavit that Officer Walterhouse’s actions put other officers in harm’s way.

Officer Walterhouse was booked on Thursday of last week at the Glenn Dyer Jail in Oakland, and bailed out within three hours of his booking, said a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department. The Alameda District Attorney has charged him with two felony counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice and a misdemeanor count of engaging in prostitution.

His arrest comes just a few weeks after the same district attorney filed charges against three of his fellow officers in the Celeste Gaup case, in which they are accused of having sex with a minor. Two more arrests are expected in that case, but the department is waiting for more information to come in. Walterhouse’s arrest and charges are unrelated.

The Mayor of Oakland held a press conference on the matter on Thursday, which was the day of Ryan’s booking. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that she said, “It is incredibly disturbing that in light of what’s happened, any officer could think it’s acceptable to engage in this type of behavior and further sully a department that has worked so hard to rebuilt the public’s trust.”

The officer that turned Walterhouse in is being applauded. A City Councilwoman for Oakland, Rebecca Kaplan, says that even though the latest arrest is unrelated, she faults the police for perpetuating a “macho culture” and for making “little effort to screen out people with misogynistic attitudes.”

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that she also said, “I think it’s a mistake to believe that you can hire people with attitudes of disrespect and train them to stop. You have to screen for that.”

Mayor Schaaf has applauded the department for coming forward to shed light on this officer’s alleged behavior, reports the Huffington Post.

In an email to the Huffington Post, she said, “The fact that members of the Oakland Police Department came forward to report this alleged misconduct by one of their colleagues, and the matter was investigated swiftly, is evidence that we are making critical progress in building a culture of accountability.”

Watch this update that briefs on all of the sex scandal allegations currently impacting the Oakland Police, prior to the arrest of Ryan Walterhouse.

The Huffington Post reports that Officer Walterhouse was sworn into the department in 2014. The East Bay Times reports that in initial police interviews on the matter, Walterhouse confessed to giving a sex worker information on covert operations. After making $20,000 bail, Walterhouse was arraigned Friday and pleaded not guilty on all counts, reports KQED. He was arraigned at the same time on Friday as two other Oakland Police who were arraigned on their sex scandal charges. They also have pleaded not guilty to all charges, reports KQED.

[Featured Image by Alameda County Sheriff’s Office]

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