The teenage prostitute at the heart of a police sex scandal that rocked the Oakland police force has sued a second police department in California.
Jasmin Abuslin, now 19, filed a lawsuit against Richmond, California on Thursday, claiming that officers on the city’s police force traded police protection for sex while she was underage.
Abuslin, the daughter of a police dispatcher, was awarded $989,000 in a May settlement of a similar suit against Oakland.
The new lawsuit accuses six Richmond police officers of sexually trafficking her, and claims that current Police Chief Allwyn Brown and former Police Chief Chris Magnus failed to put a stop to the alleged malfeasance on the force.
Abuslin, who worked as a child prostitute under the name Celeste Guap, was an ‘exclusively department retained sex worker’ for the officers, ‘available to them for sexual favors and pleasure in exchange for paid monies, protection, or other forms of consideration,’ according to the complaint reported by Courthouse News.
Jasmin Abuslin, now 19, filed a lawsuit against Richmond, California on Thursday, claiming that officers on the city’s police force traded police protection for sex while she was underage
Abuslin won $1million from the City of Oakland in a separate lawsuit earlier this year
‘This is terribly outrageous,’ her attorney John Burris told Courthouse News regarding the new allegations against the Richmond police.
‘They took advantage of a vulnerable young person. Girls like this are always suffering from some psychological deficit of some kind. Instead of acknowledging that and getting her help, they took advantage of her vulnerabilities. That’s the most negative and damning aspect of this.’
Eleven Richmond officers were identified for discipline after the scandal in Oakland went public.
Of those 11, one officer was recommended for termination, one for demotion, two for suspensions of 80 hours and 120 hours, and five to receive letters of reprimand, according to the complaint.
Burris said that Abuslin also plans to sue the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department, the Livermore Police Department, and possibly the San Francisco Police Department.
The scandal came to light in September 2015 when an Oakland police officer committed suicide and left a note implicating several of his fellow officers.
The lawsuit accuses current Ricmond Police Chief Allwyn Brown and former Police Chief Chris Magnus of allowing the alleged malfeasance to go on under their watches. Neither man is accused of participating in sex acts with the former child prostitute
Abuslin is the daughter of a police dispatcher and worked as a child prostitute under the street name Celeste Guap
Abuslin’s new lawsuit accuses six Richmond police officers of sexually trafficking her
The shocking allegations have prompted the firing of several officers from different law enforcement agencies across the Bay Area.
Oakland Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan said afterwards: ‘It is time to pay the settlement agreement to let this young woman get on with her life and her healing, but also for Oakland to step up and change the culture in the police department and change how we recruit and train our officers.’
Abuslin identified herself last year after the 2015 suicide of one of the Oakland officers involved.
She claimed to have slept with dozens of the men across the city and said some even encouraged her to keep working on the streets.
Abuslin said one Oakland officer tried to act as her pimp, renting her out a hotel room and telling her what to wear to find clients.
She said she had sex with another man in his patrol car and that others warned her of hot spots where authorities were carrying out undercover stings to catch prostitutes.
Seven current and former Oakland officers have been charged criminally for their involvement with her. So far, one has pleaded guilty.
Prosecutors previously claimed some of the men gave her Cheetos in exchange for sex. Abuslin said at least three gave her cash.
Abuslin is pictured in September last year after filing her lawsuit against Oakland
The scandal began after the suicide of Brendan O’Brien (left) who killed himself in 2015 after she contacted police to expose him. The pair had slept together when she was 17. Brian Bunton (right) ‘coached her’ to be a better hooker, she claims. He is awaiting trial on obstruction of justice charges
Abuslin communicated with the officers through Facebook messenger and text. She kept their exchanges
The messages that were exchanged between Abuslin and one of the officers included explicit photographs of her
In messages exchanged with 41-year-old Brian Bunton, he appeared to warn her off roads where other agencies were carrying out undercover police work to catch prostitutes
They also offered to send her to rehab to treat her drug addiction, she said.
In August last year, Richmond PD officers drove her to the airport to board a flight to Florida so that she could attend the program, which she now claims was a ruse to prevent her from testifying against the Richmond department after the allegations in Oakland became public.
Dan Black had sex with the girl when she was over 18 at his motor home
She was arrested for aggravated battery three days after arriving in Florida.
Abuslin filed her lawsuit against Oakland in the same month. Her lawyer said at the time that the treatment she received was akin to ‘modern day slavery’.
Abuslin no longer works as a prostitute. Her mother has never spoken publicly of the case.
Oakland Police Department Officer Brendan O’Brien killed himself in 2015 after she threatened to expose the fact they had had sex when she was 17.
Livermore officer Dan Black admitted having sex with her once she was of age in his motor home in exchange for alcohol and dinners.
The officers paid for the teenager to go to rehab in Florida in September last year. She was arrested for aggravated battery tree days in and filed her lawsuit days later
Brian Bunton is awaiting trial on obstruction of justice charges for allegedly ‘coaching’ the teenager how to be a better prostitute.
Contra County Sheriff Ricardo Perez was charged with felony oral sex with a minor.
Oakland Police Officers Warit Utappa and Tyrell Smith were charged with unlawfully searching for information about her.
Retired Oakland officer Leroy Johnson was charged for failing to report suspected child abuse after allegedly being told by the girl in 2015 that she was having sex with his colleagues.
Giovani LoVerde, an Oakland Police Officer, is accused of having oral sex with her when she was underage.