Max Chantha | Filming Cops

CALIFORNIA – Female drug addicts are often the most victimized and at-risk members of American society, especially due to the culture of stigma and intolerance towards drug use.

This has become more and more apparent as cases of officers intentionally assaulting women whose testimonies they believe will not stack up against their own.

Fortunately, for former detectives James Nichols and Luis Valenzuela of the LAPD, their positions of power were unable to conceal their alleged deplorable acts, and now both face up to life in prison for assaulting four women – together, while on duty.

The two detectives, working for the Hollywood Division’s narcotics unit, would specifically target female arrestees, and then either ply or threaten them into engaging in sexual acts, reports say.

The duo seems to have developed an entire playbook on forcefully coercing women into sexual acts if reports are right; they would evidently either threaten them with or refrain from arrest, assist them with legal proceedings, or ease their sentences by making them informants.

Whatever the method, sex is said to have always been involved, and any real sense of consent was not. Valenzuela even went so far to threaten one of the victims with his service weapon, according to reports.

Each of the women had been arrested by the pair at some point, but the abuse would apparently continue long after the initial encounter.

Though the assaults may have varied in frequency, each of the four victims could expect to be haunted by Nichols and Valenzuela.. Most disturbing of all, the vast majority of assaults allegedly occurred while the two detectives were on duty.

Instead of upholding their oath to the public, these two officers would use their taxpayer-funded time to threaten, sexually assault, and emotionally traumatize already victimized women, according to reports.

This behavior may have went on for three years before any type of investigation occurred.

Fortunately, the women had the immense bravery to speak out. One of the victims went straight to a watch supervisor to report the pair, while another brought a legal case against the city, resulting in a well deserved $575,000 settlement – that, like the time the two detectives spent assaulting women, was paid for by the taxpayers.

The two detectives now face up to life in prison, with bail set at over $3.5 million each.

Their charges include sexual assault, forcible rape, rape under color of authority, oral copulation under color of authority and by force – and an additional count of assault with a firearm for Valenzuela.

The District Attorney has a clear obligation to the people, and especially women, of Los Angeles to sentence these two depraved officers without leniency.

Though law enforcement leadership has been quick to offer up “bad apples” defense, it is becoming clear that officers who wish to satisfy their violent sexual desires specifically target at-risk, marginalized women.

One need look no further than the now-infamous Daniel Holtzclaw, who also abused drug-addicted women and women of color in the false belief that no one would believe their accounts of his despicable actions.

This rash of sexual assaults by law enforcement officers indicates not only that there may be a culture of sexual abuse within the law enforcement community, but also that the police and society at large are not valuing, helping, or investing in those American demographics that historically have been targeted for horrific crimes – and continue to this day.

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Max Chantha is a writer and investigative journalist interested in covering incidences of government injustice, at home and abroad. He is a current university student studying Global Studies and Professional Writing. Check out Max Chantha: An Independent Blog for more of his work.