Deputy: Fellow Officers Raped Me

By Rozanna M. Martinez, Journal Staff Writer

State Police are investigating claims by a female Sandoval County sheriff's deputy that she was raped by other deputies at a party in December.
Sandoval County Sheriff John Paul Trujillo told the Journal on Friday he contacted State Police as soon has he received information about the alleged assault.
The incident involved off-duty sheriff's officers and occurred in December outside the sheriff's department's jurisdiction, Trujillo said.
"I had an outside source look into it so they could verify or see if there was a criminal act that took place," Trujillo said. "At this point we don't know, it's in State Police hands."
Trujillo said he could not comment further.
State Police spokesman Lt. Rick Anglada said his agency was notified by the sheriff's department Thursday and began its investigation the same day.
"We were asked to conduct an investigation on the incident that was reported internally (in the sheriff's office) through the chain of command," Anglada said. "The allegations are that a female deputy reported to them that there was some type of party in December and in it she is claiming to have been provided alcohol... She's alleged some male deputies raped her."
Anglada did not know Friday the number of deputies alleged to have been involved.
Several witnesses and suspects as well as the accuser need to be interviewed, Anglada said.
"It happened back in December, so there's obviously no physical evidence to go by," Anglada said.
Once the State Police investigation is concluded, it is expected to be turned over to the appropriate district attorney's office for possible prosecution, Anglada said.