Oakland Police Officer Arrested On Prostitution, Obstruction Charges
OAKLAND (CBS SF) – An Oakland police officer who allegedly warned a sex worker of the location and times of police crackdowns on prostitution was charged Thursday on obstructing justice and prostitution charges.
The Alameda County District Attorney's Office said Oakland Police Officer Ryan Walterhouse was charged with two felony counts of obstruction of justice and a misdemeanor charge of engaging in an act of prostitution.
According to court documents, Walterhouse called a prostitute identified as Jane Doe on Oct. 13th and told her "you might want to call it an early night tonight" so she could elude a police crackdown.
The following night Walterhouse texted Jane Doe telling her "you out, don't be right now."
Deputy Police Chief John Lois said the investigation began after a fellow officer reported Walterhouse's possible criminal behavior.
"The investigation included the surveillance of Officer Walterhouse," he told reporters of the investigation which began around Oct. 1. "Yesterday evening...Officer Walterhouse was arrested."
Prosecutors would not say how long the illegal activity had been going on.
Lois said when the rank-and-file was told of the arrest Thursday morning, the "reaction was of anger and disappointment."
He added that there was "no reason to believe there are any other officers associated with this investigation."
Mayor Libby Schaaf angrily called the latest charges "outrageous" after the department was just recovering from a much larger sex scandal.
"It's incredibly disturbing that, after what happened this summer, that any officer think that it was acceptable to engage is this kind of behavior," she told reporters. "I am very reassured because this misconduct came to light from the rank-and-file."
The department said the charges were not related to the sexual misconduct case involving Oakland police officers and teenage sex worker Jasmine Abuslin, who was formerly known Celeste Guap.
Lois confirmed the charges against Walterhouse came from activities after the sexual misconduct case.
Abuslin claims she slept with dozens of police officers, including some while she was underage. Those claims triggered internal affairs investigations at several Bay Area law enforcement agencies.
In the Abuslin case, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley has filed criminal charges against seven current and former law enforcement officers. Five were current or former Oakland Police officers.
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Walterhouse is from Oakland. He played baseball at Bishop O'Dowd and later at Indiana State. He has a 3-year-old daughter.
Public record shows Walterhouse graduated from a police academy in September of 2014.
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