- Officers James Nichols and Luis Valenzuela were both accused of sexual assaults on four women
- One officer would serve as a lookout while the other would assault women in an unmarked car
- All of the victims in the case were either informants or arrested on drug crimes
- The pair originally faced more than a dozen charges, but many were dropped upon the plea deal
- Valenzuela was also facing a felony assault charge involving a gun before the plea
Two Los Angeles police officers will spend the next 25 years behind bars after pleading no contest to sexual assault charges where the pair attacked women who were either acting as informants or were recently arrested on drug charges.
The pair was charged with sexually assaulting multiple women – with one officer committing the attack in their unmarked squad car as the other served as a lookout.
Officers James Nichols, 46, and Luis Valenzeula, 45, both entered no contest pleas on charges of forcible rape and forcible oral copulation.
James Nichols (left) and Luis Valenzuela (right) will spend 25 years in prison after pleading no contest on sexual assault charges in Los Angeles Monday
The officers wore orange jumpsuits and were shackled during their court appearance.
If they were tried and convicted, the two could have faced life in prison.
‘This hurts,’ said Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ronald Coen as he handed down the sentences. Coen himself served as a law enforcement officer.
The judge also required the pair to register as sex offenders.
The crooked cops originally faced more than a dozen charges related to assaults on four women. Valenzuela was also arrested on a charge related to assault with a gun. Most of these were dropped as part of a plea deal.
Valenzuela (above) and Nichols assaulted at least four women – these women were either informants or arrested on drug charges
The pair (Nichols pictured above) would assault women in an unmarked police car as the other member of the squad would stand as a lookout
The victims were all between the ages of 19 and 34 and were either informants for drug investigations or were recently arrested on drug charges.
The pair of officers had been on unpaid leave from the police department since 2013 and jailed since 2016. Their plea deal clears the way for their formal termination from the force.
‘We do believe there may have been additional victims who chose not to cooperate with the investigation,’ said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ann Marie Wise to the Los Angeles Times.
The LAPD’s Police Protective League, the union for police officers, also called the acts of the disgraced officers ‘disgusting’.
“We are sorry these women were let down and hope they are healing as best they can,’ the union said in a statement.