Deputy charged with 17 felonies after alleged sex with teen

A veteran Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was charged Monday with 17 felony counts related to a sexual relationship he allegedly had with a 15-year-old girl, prosecutors said.

John Augustus Rose II, 43, was scheduled to be arraigned Monday afternoon on charges including lewd acts on a child, sexual penetration by a foreign object, oral copulation of a person under 16, contact with a minor for sexual offense and possession of matter showing a minor engaging in sexual conduct, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said.

If convicted, officials said, Rose will face more than 13 years in state prison.

The alleged relationship with the teen, described as a member of a family Rose “knew socially,” began in March and continued through June, prosecutors said.

Sheriff’s officials said they launched an investigation into the 22-year veteran after they were alerted about him by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department on Sept. 7. He was arrested Thursday evening and relieved of duty without pay.

Records show Rose was awarded the Medal of Valor for a daring rescue of a woman during the 2002 Curve fire in the San Gabriel Mountains. According to media reports and a Sheriff’s Department description of the events, Rose and another deputy saved Soldier Creek resident Sigrid Hopson, who was trapped by the fire and about to shoot herself to avoid burning to death.

“They are just like angels,” Hopson told The Times in 2002.

Most recently, Rose was assigned to the Community Oriented Policing Services Bureau, which aims to help residents by taking a “holistic approach to problem-oriented policing,” according to the department.

Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore told The Times that Rose had been “well thought of” in the department.

“But this is obviously just inexcusable,” he said.

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