Hialeah, Fla. – A lesbian couple accused a Hialeah, Fla. officer of sexual abuse after one of them was detained over a routine traffic stop June 13.
The couple, who have asked not to be identified, told Miami news station WSVN they made a U-Turn by a police substation and were pulled over by Sgt. Jesus Menocal, Jr.
Menocal placed one girl, 17, into his police car and instructed her girlfriend, 20, to follow behind in their car. When they arrived at the police station, Menocal took the 17-year-old victim into a private room to question her and left her girlfriend to stay outside at the vehicle.
“[He asked me] how do I have intercourse, and I told him, ‘Why do I need to answer that? Why is that necessary?'” the young girl told WSVN. “He insisted me to answer it, so I told him how me and my partner have intercourse, which is me and my girlfriend. After, he asked if I was a virgin. He asked me, if he was to test me right that moment, if I had any diseases on me.”
The victim says Menocal began rubbing himself below his weapon belt and told her to take off her pants and let him see her from behind.
“I thought I was going to get arrested for no reason. I feel like I was being detained for no reason. He had put me in a room, he told me I was going to be with investigators, and out of nowhere, there’s no one in the office,” she said.
The victim said she did what Menocal asked out of fear and then he continued with the harassment.
“He wanted me to take off my shirt and my bra together, and I told him, ‘No. Why do I have to do that? There’s no reason to do that,” she said. “Honestly, I thought I was going to get raped, I thought he would make me sleep with him.”
Menocal held her for about 15 minutes before releasing the young girl to her girlfriend, saying that he was letting them go because he is a “cool guy”.
The couple filed a police report immediately after the incident and have retained legal counsel.
Menocal was suspended with pay June 14 pending an investigation by the Hialeah Police Department.
In a statement, the HPD said, “We are currently investigating allegations, made by two women, against a Hialeah Police officer. Additional information will be made available as the investigation develops.”
Hialeah Police Chief Sergio Velázquez met with Miami-Dade state attorneys June 15 to coordinate delivery of evidence as the investigation moves forward.
“This is a very delicate road and we seek to be impartial,” Velázquez said to the Miami Herald. “Our job is to get to the bottom of this. If it is proven that there was wrongdoing, the appropriate decision will be taken. Otherwise, he will return to work.”
