LAPD officer is convicted of sexual assault

A 43-year-old Los Angeles Police officer was convicted Monday of sexually assaulting one young woman and soliciting sex from another while he was on duty.

The jury of nine men and three women deliberated about two hours before finding Russell Mecano guilty of one misdemeanor count of solicitation and one felony count each of sexual battery and penetration by a foreign object by a public official and penetration by a foreign object by force or duress.

Immediately after the verdict was read, Mecano was handcuffed and remanded to jail by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry. Sentencing is scheduled for April 14.

He faces nearly 10 years in state prison, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Natalie Adomian of the Justice System Integrity Division, who prosecuted the case.

Adomian said Mecano, a patrol officer in West Los Angeles, propositioned a 19-year-old homeless woman after her arrest on suspicion of battery in October 2007. Mecano gave the young woman $200 in cash and told her to meet him at the Holiday Inn near the West Los Angeles Station, the prosecutor said. Instead, she asked a cab driver to take her to the beach. She reported the incident on March 16, 2008 to Santa Monica police and later to the LAPD, according to Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office.

The second incident occurred nearly two weeks after the woman reported the first case.

On May 28, 2008, Mecano told an 18-year-old female he would not arrest her on suspicion of possessing a marijuana pipe if she had sex with him, prosecutors said. He sexually assaulted her near the Palisades Branch Library, Adomian said. She reported the incident to authorities.

Mecano was arrested on Oct. 16, 2008, the same day the Grand Jury returned an indictment.

-- Richard Winton

Comments

[JustAnother Girl]

Is this the reason why we want to pay higher taxes?? For LAPD Officials like Russell Mecano who are sucking up the systems money and have power trips. First, they stroll around like they are above the law, secondly they make dumb fraudulent acts, like Anthony Robert Villanueva and Ricardo Rebolledo, and now this? Why do you want more cops on the streets? To give the citizens of LA more protection or to have them suck up money from the system they don't deserve ?

[batteredbypd]

Another Corrupt Cop Exposed!

[Richard]

You just post comments! with out knowing anything about a person and beleve the words of a couple of prostitutes over a officer. But if you need a officer your for them and if something differant happens your against them and he's all alone and has to prove himself and I thinks its wrong

[jon lain]

i haven't had any dealings with prostitutes, but i have had dealings with police officers before. they've never not lied in a police report in my experience. i think they justify this because they are enforcing the law, so it's ok if they help the law out a bit. because of burden of proof stuff.

the odd thing is police officers, besides being extremely high paid in this country (if you count overtime and pensions) they are also indemnified against criminal acts, which normally is not possible. because their union pays for their legal expenses when they are accused of breaking the law.

normal citizens cannot buy insurance against having to pay for legal help after breaking a criminal law. (civil i guess is different). but i may be wrong on all this stuff.

[FUBU]

The LAPD, Grand Jury, and the jury all believed the alleged prostitutes too. I think there must be some truth to it. This dirt bag is not representative of the 9600 rank and file of the LAPD.