I-TEAM EXCLUSIVE: Beloved cop's murder played key role in Oakland police sex scandal

ByDan Noyes KGO logo

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

I-TEAM EXCLUSIVE: Cop's murder played role in Oakland sex scandal

The Oakland police sex scandal may never have happened, if a wanted felon didn't gun down four OPD officers in 2009. The I-Team has confirmed the connection in an interview with the 18-year-old at the center of the scandal. It's a story you'll see only on ABC7 News.

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The Oakland police sex scandal may never have happened, if a wanted felon didn't gun down four OPD officers in 2009. The I-Team has confirmed the connection in an interview with the 18-year-old at the center of the scandal. It's a story you'll see only on ABC7 News.

This part of the story started with a tip from sources close to the investigation to our own reporter, Vic Lee. And Celeste Guap confirms it -- the death of one of those officers hit her hard. Within months, at the age of 12, she tells me she took money for sex for the first time.

Celeste Guap tells me her mother, an Oakland police dispatcher, was in a serious relationship with OPD Motorcycle Officer John Hege.

"They had a little thing going on," she said. "He was a really great guy, John Hege was a good guy. I like the way he treated my mom, the way he treated me and stuff."

He was a calming, positive influence on Celeste, after what had been a tumultuous childhood to that point.

Then came March 21, 2009. Hege performed what he thought was a routine traffic stop, but was gunned down by a wanted felon who also killed three other officers. It was the deadliest attack on U.S. law enforcement since 9/11, and it hit Celeste hard.

Dan: "What kind of blow was that when he passed away?"

Celeste: "(sigh)."

Dan: "Did that have an impact on you?"

Celeste: "Yeah, it was really sad."

Within months, Celeste succumbed to the influences around her -- the drugs and prostitution she saw in her Richmond neighborhood. At the age of 12, she tells me she took money for sex for the first time.

Dan: "If John were around, would you still have gone that way, do you think?"

Celeste: "No."

Dan: "Really? Why?"

Celeste: "There's no way I could've."

She says John Hege wouldn't have allowed it. Celeste tells me she started taking money for sex, using friends' houses, and that she first had sex with a cop at 16 -- her mother's friend from the Oakland Police Department. Now, Celeste says she's had sex with more than 30 officers from 7 law enforcement agencies. She expected protection and information from them; she says only three paid her.

Dan: "When did your mom find out that you were taking money for sex?"

Celeste: "A little over a month ago."

On May 6, Celeste had an overnight date in an Oakland house with a man she calls "a trick". It didn't go well.

"That same day, he proposed to me and he was like saying, 'I love you,' and stuff," she said. "I tried leaving, but he locked me in the house and he left."

Celeste shouted out a window to a neighbor, who helped her escape and called police. And the cops called her mother, the Oakland police dispatcher.

Dan: "Is she being supportive, is she taking it okay?"

Celeste: "Yeah, she's being supportive to me because she sees all the negativity I'm getting from everybody else. I can tell she's a little disappointed, but she hasn't been like negative towards me."

Celeste tells me the pressure of the scandal is tremendous, but she hopes to come out of it a stronger person.

Celeste: "But then again, I also have these, like where I daydream, like about the square life."

Dan: "About what? About the square life?"

Celeste: "Yeah, like being a wife and stuff."

Dan: "Is that appealing to you?"

Celeste: "Yes, sometimes because I want to have a kid, I want to be a mommy."

She wants just one child, a girl. We've reached out to her mother, but she has not responded. This scandal has now spread to four counties and seven law enforcement agencies. Only one of them has cleared its officers who admit having sex with Celeste, but that department did not interview her. That's raising questions, click here for the answers.

Click here for full coverage on the Bay Area police sex scandal.

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