Seven women who have gone through Riverside County’s jail filed federal cases against Riverside County March 26. The cases allege liability for sexual abuse admitted by a correctional deputy.
Christian Heidecker, the deputy, pleaded guilty to 11 felonies Feb. 23, and was sentenced to five years in prison March 7.
“Criminal behavior is not only unacceptable, it is referred to law enforcement. In this situation, the county investigated, arrested, prosecuted and reached a conviction for Heidecker. He has since been sentenced to prison,” Riverside County Spokesperson Brooke Federico said by email March 29.
The women’s complaints claim that the county covered up Heidecker’s abuse by offering them $2,000 to waive their right to sue.
“It is not uncommon to seek settlement prior to litigation to avoid the time and expense for both sides associated with lawsuits. Pre-litigation settlements do not contain non-disclosure language. To characterize any pre-litigation settlements as an effort to buy silence is a clear mischaracterization,” Federico wrote.
Heidecker’s pleaded crimes included one felony count of a detention officer engaging in a sex act with a consenting adult, four felony counts of extortion, two felony counts of dissuading a witness or victim, four felony counts of asking for or agreeing to a bribe as a public official, and two misdemeanor counts of dissuading a witness or victim.
Four other felony counts of attempting to penetrate by object and three other felony counts of a detention officer engaging in a sex act with a consenting adult were dropped.
He is held at Wasco State Prison, in Kern County.
One of the complaints, brought by A.S., brings 11 claims: a Fourth Amendment violation, a 14th Amendment violation, failure to intervene, municipal liability for unconstitutional practices, municipal liability for failure to train, supervisory liability, negligence, sexual assault, violation of the California Civil Code for gender violence, sending of unsolicited images depicting obscene material, and violation of California’s Tom Bane Civil Rights Act.
“The plan was this: Following defendant Heidecker’s confession to the sexual abuse on Sept. 1, 2023, defendant Heidecker agreed to turn himself in on September 15, 2023. This gave the county and RCSD fifteen (15) days exactly to silence the victims. (Correctional Sgt. Jessica) Yelenich and attorney (Nicole) Roggeveen created a list of Heidecker’s victims and one by one they offered them money in exchange to waiving their right to sue the county and the RCSD for the sexual abuse they were forced to endure,” the complaint says.
The complaint says that Heidecker was a case manager in the Coordinated Custody Management Unit in Banning. He was granted discretion to enter inmates into a house arrest program known as Riverside Alternative Sentencing Program (RASP), and then monitor them afterward. It claims he abused his authority to coerce inmates into sexual relationships with him.
“Defendant Heidecker, in his capacity as a RCSD deputy, coerced women participants of RASP into satisfying his sexual desires under various threats, including the threat of jail times, threat of criminal consequences, or threat of RASP revocation,” the complaint says.
The complaint also claims Heidecker had a sexual relationship with Karisma Vaca, an employee with the GPS-monitoring company Sentinel who should have been monitoring the inmates on release. It claims that Vaca allowed Heidecker to carry out his exploitation of the inmates.
RASP required the women to submit photos of their ankle monitor, allowing Heidecker to compliment their feet, ask for photos without any footwear, and ask for more photos, the complaint claims.
Case information
Denisse Gastélum and Christian Contreras of their own Long Beach and Los Angeles law offices represent the plaintiffs.
Attorneys for the county have not yet been announced.
Case Nos. 5:24-cv-00640, 5:24-cv-00641, 5:24-cv-00642, 5:24-cv-00643, 5:24-cv-00644, 5:24-cv-00645, 5:24-cv-00646
Read the complaint here.
