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PLEA DEAL IN EX-OFFICER’S SEX CASE



A former San Diego police officer accused of threatening to take a prostitute to jail if she didn’t have sex with him pleaded no contest Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge of engaging in a lewd act in public and was placed on probation for three years.

Daniel Dana, 27, had faced several felony charges in San Diego Superior Court, including rape under color of authority, assault and battery by an officer, and false imprisonment, and could have been sent to prison for more than 17 years if convicted. Those charges were dropped with his plea.

Dana’s lawyer, William Wolfe, said he met with District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis a couple of months ago and urged her to drop all of the charges. Wolfe had contended Dana had consensual sex with the woman, and no force was involved.

The woman told authorities Dana took her in his patrol car to an Old Town park where they had sex. She said she was scared and felt she did not have a choice.

Wolfe said he requested a lie-detector test, which Dana passed, and that he believed the woman was not a credible witness. Prosecutors likely came to a similar conclusion, he said.

“The bottom line is, they lost confidence in their case,” he said.

Deputy District Attorney Annette Irving said the case was “appropriately charged” based on what prosecutors knew at the time.

“The people stand behind the charges as initially brought,” she said. “We did not have reasons to disbelieve the victim and still don’t.”

She said there was concern about whether a jury would be able to agree that a prostitute had been raped.

Last year, a 35-year-old woman identified in court only as Jane Doe testified she met Dana in mid-April while working as a prostitute on El Cajon Boulevard. He contacted her near Howard Avenue and asked her for her phone number, she said.

They exchanged text messages over the next few weeks. She said she thought he was “really a nice officer” and possibly wanted a date.

Early on May 11, 2011, she went to work on El Cajon Boulevard and ended up at a convenience store where she spoke with the officer.

She testified he told her “either I give him what he wants or I go to jail.”

The woman said the officer told her to get into his patrol car, and he took her to Presidio Park, where they had sex.

While inside the patrol car, she licked her finger and rubbed it on the front seat of the officer’s patrol car, so that she would leave behind DNA evidence. “I wanted to have proof that I was in that car,” she said.

She said after she returned home to Vista, she called police to report the incident.

Dana was charged last year at a time when the Police Department was dealing with a rash of misconduct charges against officers.

One officer, Anthony Arevalos, was sentenced to more than eight years in prison after being convicted in November of eight felonies and four misdemeanors for molesting women he had stopped for traffic violations

In Dana’s case, his arrest came several hours after Police Chief Bill Lansdowne had publicly apologized for bad behavior by his officers and outlined a plan to curb misconduct.

Dana, who had joined the department in 2007, resigned within 24 hours of his arrest. “He resigned in lieu of termination,” Lansdowne said Wednesday.

The chief said he knew in advance about the plea deal with the former officer.

“The decision on how they charge is the district attorney’s, and listening to the reasons why they did it I thought it was a fair outcome,” Lansdowne said.

He said this case and any serious misconduct by his officers troubles him.

“But I am also very impressed with the level of scrutiny that this department has, and our ability to not only investigate for misconduct but to prosecute,” Lansdowne said. “This is probably a good example of how both of those came together — a very quick resignation and a prosecution.”

Dana’s lawyer said the former officer now works menial jobs and is trying to piece his life together. He and his wife recently had a son and are still together, Wolfe said.