Case tossed against Oakland cop accused in teen sex-abuse scandal

An Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to show former Oakland Police officer Brian Bunton committed any crimes stemming from a Bay Area law enforcement sex scandal. An Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to show former Oakland Police officer Brian Bunton committed any crimes stemming from a Bay Area law enforcement sex scandal. Photo: Amy Osborne / Special To The Chronicle / / Photo: Amy Osborne / Special To The Chronicle / / Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Case tossed against Oakland cop accused in teen sex-abuse scandal 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

An Alameda County judge tossed out criminal charges on Wednesday against a former Oakland police officer at the center of a police sex-abuse scandal.

The former officer, Brian Bunton, 41, was charged with obstruction of justice and engaging in prostitution stemming from his alleged encounters with the now 20-year-old Richmond woman formerly known as Celeste Guap.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Jon Rolefson dismissed the charges Wednesday, saying there was insufficient evidence to show Bunton exchanged anything for sex.

“The outcome of today’s hearing is very disappointing,” said Teresa Drenick, a spokeswoman for the Alameda County district attorney’s office. “We firmly stand behind the criminal charges that we filed and wholeheartedly believe that the evidence supports the charges.”

The woman — who now uses her true first name, Jasmine — had testified at a preliminary hearing in May that she and Bunton engaged in sex acts and that he warned her about an undercover prostitution sting.

During the hearing, Judge Thomas Rogers ordered Bunton to stand trial, saying he acted “like a pimp” in his encounters with the teen.

In one liaison in March of 2016, Bunton texted Jasmine where undercover officers would be busting prostitutes that weekend. The Oakland Police Department, though, concluded there had been no such operation, according to testimony during the hearing.

“What Bunton said from the beginning is while he obviously made some extremely bad decisions and some bad judgments, no criminal conduct occurred,” said Bunton’s attorney, Dirk Manoukian. “He was off duty and there was no agreement to exchange anything of value for any act.”

The reason Bunton made up the story about the sting was to keep Jasmine off the streets, Manoukian said.

Jasmine — the daughter of an Oakland police dispatcher — said other officers told her that Bunton was part of a club of cops who gossiped about having sex with her.

She told The Chronicle that she had sex with 29 law-enforcement officers from around the Bay Area. Some of the encounters started before she was 18, and officers would occasionally pay her or tip her off about police operations, she said.

The scandal was first revealed when Oakland Police Officer Brendan O’Brien left a note detailing Jasmine’s sexual relationships with officers before he killed himself in 2015.

The revelation prompted a wide-ranging sexual misconduct investigation into the Oakland Police Department and other jurisdictions. Twelve Oakland officers were disciplined and four — including Bunton — were among the six Bay Area officers criminally charged.

The city of Oakland agreed to pay Jasmine about $1 million to settle a lawsuit against the city stemming from the scandal. She has filed a similar suit against Richmond and legal claims — precursors to lawsuits — against Livermore and San Francisco police along with the Alameda and Contra Costa county sheriff’s offices.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky