Ex-Officer's Bid To Have Charges Dropped In East Bay Sex Scandal Postponed
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- A former Oakland police officer accused in a prostitution case was scheduled to challenge the re-filing of two felony counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice against him at a hearing Thursday, but the matter was postponed until Friday.
On June 26, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Rogers dismissed the felony counts against Ryan Walterhouse, 27, when prosecutors refused to disclose the name of a confidential informant who brought the matter to the attention of Oakland police, saying that the informant's safety was at stake.
But the Alameda County District Attorney's Office re-filed the felony charges against Walterhouse on July 10.
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Defense attorneys Jyoti Rekhi and Michael Cardoza were set to challenge the new charges at a hearing Thurday, but Judge Joan Cartwright, who retired from being a full-time judge two years ago and was acting as a substitute judge, put the matter over until Friday when Judge Mark McCannon will return to duty and hold a hearing on the case.
When prosecutors re-filed the case last month, Cardoza said, "We will fight this because it's not right to do this."
In addition to the two felony counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice, Walterhouse also faces one misdemeanor count of engaging in an act of prostitution for his alleged involvement with the prostitute in 2016.
The prostitute, who's now 21, testified at Walterhouse's preliminary hearing in June that he gave her his phone number and solicited her for sex after he met her met her while he was patrolling a high-prostitution area in Oakland last year.
The woman said that on the morning of Oct. 1, 2016, after Walterhouse had completed his overnight patrol shift, she and Walterhouse met at a motel room in Castro Valley.
The woman said Walterhouse fondled her after he paid her $200 but they never had intercourse or oral sex.
But she said Walterhouse stayed in touch with her and warned her about police undercover sting operations on International Boulevard on Oct. 13 and Oct 14.
She said Walterhouse later texted her that she "owed" him, which she assumed meant that he thought she owed him for tipping her off.
Charges were filed against Walterhouse last Oct. 20 and he resigned from the Oakland Police Department in December.
Walterhouse's case is unrelated to a sexual misconduct scandal involving the teenage daughter of an Oakland police dispatcher who allegedly had encounters with numerous officers from Oakland and other local law enforcement agencies.
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