LAPD officer pleads no contest to charges of molesting two young girls
A veteran Los Angeles police officer pleaded no contest to sexually molesting one girl and attempting to molest a second after luring them to his home, authorities said Tuesday.
Miguel Angel Schiappapietra Jr., 28, pleaded no contest in a downtown courtroom to two felonies--one count of a lewd act on a child under 14 years of age and one count of an attempted lewd act on a child under 14 years of age.
The officer is due back in court Sept. 6 and is expected to be sentenced by Judge Michael Abzug to three years in state prison and ordered to register as a sex offender.
The six-year veteran was arrested in May after the girls, ages 5 and 8, told detectives the officer had sexually molested them.
Authorities did not elaborate on the nature of the crimes or the exact relationship the officer had to the girls, other than to say they were not family members.
Schiappapietra, assigned to the Foothill Division, was off-duty at the time of his arrest. The case was investigated by the sheriff’s Special Victims Unit.
LAPD had no immediate comment on Schiappapietra’s job status, although convictions are tantamount to firing offenses. The officer will remain free until his sentencing, prosecutors said.
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