A former Los Angeles police officer has been charged with sexually assaulting four boys at his Covina home while working for the LAPD, according to the district attorney’s office.
Paul Razo, 46, was arrested by detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s special victims unit Wednesday after he was charged with eight counts of lewd conduct against a child, the district attorney’s office said Monday in a news release.
He is expected to be charged on Tuesday. He remains in custody on a set bail of $2.5 million, sheriff records show.
“The allegations of sexual abuse against vulnerable children in this case are extremely disturbing and it is particularly disturbing that the defendant was a law enforcement officer at the time.” Dist. Atty. George Gascón said in a statement announcing the charges against Razo.
He added: “Sexual abuse of children causes incalculable harm. “Sexual abuse of any kind is a heinous crime and we will not tolerate it in our community.”
Paul Razo
(Los Angeles Police Department)
Razo, who has worked for more than 25 years at the Los Angeles Police Department, is accused of sexually assaulting two of his young male relatives; Prosecutors said one was 11 or 12 years old and the other was about 13 when the abuse began.
The other two victims are the sons of a woman Razo once dated, according to the press release. The boys are said to often spend the night at Razo’s home. Prosecutors say one boy was 9 or 10 years old when Razo began sexually abusing him, and the other was 12 years old.
Prosecutors said the attacks occurred between 2006 and 2017, when Razo worked for the LAPD. Razo left the division in April, according to a press release.
Razo was awarded the department’s Medal of Courage for rescuing a man trapped in a burning car in Glendora in July 2016. windows.
The charges against Razo follow the arrest of a rookie officer on suspicion of sexually assaulting a child under the age of 14 before he was hired by the LAPD. Diego Jose Miranda Lopez, 23 years old, a trainee; He resigned in the face of the charges. He has not been charged.
Prosecutors are asking anyone with information about Razo and other alleged victims to contact the Police Department’s Office of Special Victims at (877) 710-5273 or at specialvictimbureau@lasd.org.
