SAN DIEGO – Former San Diego police officer Anthony Arevalos has now cost taxpayers at least $2.3 million, as the City Council finalized a $795,000 settlement to woman whom he’d allegedly sexually assaulted.
It is the largest the city has ever had to fork over, and follows a storm of lawsuits filed by women who claim to have been assaulted or harassed by Arevalos, who was convicted of sexual battery and other charges – largely relating in some way or another to soliciting sexual favors from women he pulled over – and in February 2012, he was sentenced to nearly 9 years in state prison.
This most recent settlement rose from a lawsuit filed by a woman identified by court papers as Jane Doe, who alleged that she’d been sexually assaulted by Arevalos in the back seat of a patrol car after her drunken driving arrest in February 2010. The settlement agreement had first been announced in September, and at the time Roe said she was relieved to settle the case and keep it from dragging out for years on end.
On Tuesday, the Council voted unanimous approval as they’d already achieved majority approval in a closed session months ago.
While ten other lawsuits have been settled (including one which alleged Arevalos reached into a woman’s jeans and asked if her breasts were real), one more case looms ahead – involving a woman who alleges Arevalos sexually battered her in a convenience store bathroom after her arrest for drunk driving, the case which triggered the initial criminal charges.
Read more:
10News: Anthony Arevalos victim, city of San Diego reach $795K settlement
U-T San Diego: Bad cop costs taxpayers $795K
