A Los Angeles police officer is expected to spend five years behind bars after admitting to sexually assaulting a fellow LAPD officer’s 13-year-old daughter in her Torrance, CA bedroom.
On April 5, 2019, Kenneth Collard, 52, pleaded guilty to two counts of lewd act upon a child. The defendant’s plea was part of a deal negotiated with prosecutors.
The sexual assault happened on April 4, 2018.
Two other counts Collard had been facing — a third count of lewd acts and one count of sexual penetration by foreign object, were dropped reports The LA Times.
On April 4, 2018, Collard was staying at a LAPD officer’s house after a party in Torrance. Following the party, Collard had a few drinks and was encouraged by his LAPD co-worker not to drive back to his Riverside home.
But during the middle of the night, Collard entered the victim’s bedroom and sexually assaulted the teenage girl.
Days later, the girl went to her LAPD father to report the sexual abuse. Police then launched an investigation which included the analysis of forensic evidence.
Warrants were soon gathered and processed for Collard’s arrest.
Collard resigned from his job at the LAPD shortly after being arrested.
The LAPD released this statement:
“When any individual harms a child it is tragic, but when an officer betrays the trust of the residents he or she has sworn to protect it is unforgivable. Collard tarnished the badge that we all wear and the department remains committed to building faith in our professionalism and integrity.”
Collard had been with the LAPD for 10 years. Collard is scheduled to be sentenced on April 19.
Collard is one of the many officers to be sentenced to prison for sexually assaulting women in the past 14 months.
In February 2018 former officers Luis Valenzuela and James C. Nichols pleaded no contest to forcibly raping multiple women while on duty, and in January 2019 the city of Los Angeles agreed to pay $1.8 million to one of the victims.
In August 2018, former officer Robert Cain pleaded no contest to statutory rape in the sexual assault of a 15-year-old member of the department’s cadet program. In her victim statement, the teen called Cain a “monster” and said she “no longer felt safe around anyone.”