Officer William Wyatt, 34, has not been charged, but he
has been on paid leave with the Fresno Police Department since Jan. 20.
Even though the allegation is still under investigation,
Police Chief Jerry Dyer has taken away Wyatt's badge, gun and power to make an
arrest.
The alleged victim is a former Reedley police officer.
Because it is a personnel matter, Dyer said Thursday, he
could say little about Wyatt, a patrol officer who joined the force in 2003.
Dyer said he learned of the allegation in January, when
Reedley Police Chief Joe Garza called him to report that a female officer had
accused a Fresno police officer of "sexually assaulting her without her
knowledge and while she was incapacitated."
According to the search warrant documents, a sergeant in
Fresno Police Department's Internal Affairs notified Fresno County sheriff's
detective Andrea McCormick about the rape allegation on Jan. 19. The Sheriff's
Department is investigating because the alleged crime happened in a county
island in Fresno near Palm and Gettysburg avenues.
McCormick wrote in the court document that the woman said
Wyatt and two of his friends went with her to Club Habanos in northwest Fresno
for drinks in August 2010.
The woman said she remembered only arriving at the bar
but nothing else "due to heavy alcohol consumption," McCormick wrote
in her affidavit.
The woman remembered waking up the following morning in
Wyatt's bedroom wearing sweat pants and a white T-shirt that didn't belong to her.
The woman wasn't concerned about waking up in different
clothing and "just asked Wyatt to take her home," McCormick wrote.
The woman discovered on Jan. 18 this year that
photographs on Wyatt's computer showed her having sex with him, McCormick
wrote.
The woman told the detective that the photographs show
that "she is clearly passed out while the officer was having sex with
her," McCormick wrote.
The woman also told the detective that she didn't
remember having sex and could not have given consent because she was extremely
intoxicated, as the photos showed, the affidavit said.
Wyatt's home was searched Jan. 20. Several computers and
an iPhone were seized, the court documents said.
In her affidavit, McCormick wrote that Wyatt's computer
had 36 images of the alleged victim -- "20 of which depict the victim
completely nude lying on a bed."
Sheriff detectives in April searched Wyatt's Google email
account. What was discovered has not yet been made public.
Wyatt's attorney, E. Marshall Hodgkins, said Thursday
that Wyatt denies the rape allegation. Hodgkins also said it's still too early
in the investigation to make a judgment about his client -- who earned a police
lifesaving medal in December 2007.
"He is a respected and decorated police
officer," the lawyer said.
Hodgkins noted that the District Attorney's Office has
had the case "for some time" and even sent it back to sheriff's
detectives "at least one time for further investigation."
A spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office declined
to comment Thursday, other than to say the "case is pending review."
Dyer said his department is still conducting its own
internal investigation: "These are serious allegations and we are treating
them as such."