Ex-police officer charged with sexually abusing four boys in his home while on the force
The ex-police officer, who stands accused of sexually abusing four boys over an 11-year period, received the Medal of Valor award in 2016.
A former police officer who was decorated with the Medal of Valor award has been charged with sexually assaulting four young boys at his home while employed by the force, according to the district attorney’s office.
Paul Razo, 46, was arrested last Wednesday by detectives from Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's special victims unit after being charged with eight counts of lewd acts upon a child, the district attorney's office said on Monday.
He is expected to be arraigned Tuesday. He remains in custody with bail set at $2.5million, sheriff’s records show.
District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement: "The allegations of sexual abuse against vulnerable children in this case are deeply disturbing, and it's particularly troubling that the defendant was a law enforcement officer at the time.
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"Childhood sexual abuse causes immeasurable harm and our hearts go out to the victims who were victimized by someone they trusted."
“Childhood sexual abuse causes immeasurable harm,” he added.
“Sexual abuse of any kind is a heinous crime and we will not tolerate it in our community.”
Razo, who had worked for more than 25 years at the Los Angeles Police Department, is accused of sexually assaulting two boys related to him; one was 11 or 12 years old and the other was about 13 when the abuse began, prosecutors allege.
The other two alleged victims were sons of a woman Razo had been dating, according to the news release.
The boys allegedly spent the night regularly at Razo’s home.
One was 9 or 10 when Razo began sexually abusing him, and the other boy was 12, prosecutors claim.
The assaults allegedly occurred during various times between 2006 and 2017, during Razo's decades-long career at the LAPD, which ended in April when he left the department.
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Razo was awarded the Medal of Valor for rescuing a man trapped in a burning car while off-duty in Glendora in July 2016.
He leaned inside the burning vehicle and dragged the male passenger out through the window.
The driver was killed on impact.
Anyone with information about Razo and other alleged victims is being asked by prosecutors to contact the Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau at (877) 710-5273 or at specialvictimsbureau@lasd.org.
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The charges against Razo come shortly after the arrest of a rookie officer on suspicion of sexually assaulting a child younger than 14 before he was hired by the LAPD.
Diego Jose Miranda Lopez, 23, was a probationary officer; he resigned when confronted with the allegations. He has not been charged.
Express.co.uk has reached out to the LAPD for comment.
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