Exclusive: Sex on duty, felony behavior alleged in Northern California police lawsuit

Oroville police Officer Robert Raiter started with the department in August 2015, eventually earning outstanding evaluations from his superiors and a prediction that he was “the future of the department,” his lawyer says.

Then, the trouble began.

In June 2020, Raiter was being questioned as a witness in a sexual harassment internal affairs investigation involving another officer, and he began volunteering information about what he had seen inside the department, according to explosive claims outlined in a civil rights lawsuit filed on Raiter’s behalf against the city of Oroville in Sacramento federal court.

Among the claims in the suit, Raiter alleges crude and routine instances of sexual harassment, officers covering for each other while they had sex on duty with their girlfriends, or “beat wives;” mismanagement and phony reports in cases involving Black suspects; and a warning by the Butte County District Attorney’s Office that Raiter should be wary of other officers trying to “commit violent acts against him and to be careful.”

Having sex on duty was viewed as such a “rite of passage” within the department that Raiter had sex with his girlfriend while on break during a shift and later acknowledged that during a job interview with another law enforcement agency, the lawsuit filed by Chico attorney Larry Baumbach says.

The suit claims instances of improper conduct went all the way up the chain to then-Chief Joe Deal, who allegedly had sex while on duty and frequently pressured officers planning to sell their homes to hire his wife as their Realtor or face a backlash that included loss of overtime.

Raiter’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday, also accuses Deal of giving or selling ammunition from the department armory to a member of the Oroville City Council.

Deal, who headed both the police and fire departments starting in 2019, was fired in March 2021 by the City Council with no public reason given, the Chico Enterprise-Record reported at the time. Deal could not be reached for comment.

Sexual harassment investigation

Raiter, who earned nearly $124,000 in pay and benefits in 2020, says in his lawsuit that his problems began when a female officer filed a sexual harassment complaint that same year against Sgt. Ray Stott.

The lawsuit claims Stott called the woman a “b-----” for weeks and once walked into a break room where the woman was eating a burrito and asked her if it “tasted like p----.”

Stott, who is no longer with the department, could not be reached.

The female officer, identified by the initials “M.H.,” complained to Sgt. Mike Sears, who reported it, and an internal affairs investigation was opened, the lawsuit says.

“Chief Joe Deal was upset that Sears had not talked M.H. out of complaining,” the lawsuit says. “Chief Deal had constantly undermined Sergeant Sears, who is African American, and attempted to improperly prolong Sergeant Sears’ probation.

“Sergeant Sears had reported several criminal acts by other officers within the department. Chief Deal ignored these complaints and failed to investigate them even though they were felony offenses with clear evidence that the felony occurred.”

The lawsuit also claims that Stott took some artwork from the home of a Black man named Emilio Agnew and that “rather than admit the artwork as evidence as required by law, Sergeant Stott hung it in his office like trophies.”

“After ignoring complaints made by other officer(s) regarding the conduct, Officer Stott created a false report stating that the artwork was in ‘storage’ when they were improperly in his office for over a year,” the suit says.

Sex while on breaks ‘encouraged’

Raiter’s involvement as a witness in an internal affairs probe apparently began unwittingly. An outside workplace investigator looking into the complaint by “M.H.” summoned Raiter for an interview and asked if he had ever witnessed sexual harassment at the department, the lawsuit says.

But Raiter thought he was being asked about Lt. Gil Zarate, who the lawsuit refers to as a “habitual sexual harasser in the department,” and Raiter described instances where he believed Zarate had acted inappropriately.

That led to a change in Zarate’s behavior toward Raiter, the suit says, including Zarate saying he wanted to “take him down a peg” and singling him out for not wearing a mask while speaking with other officers as they maintained social distancing.

Zarate did not respond to a message left on his police department voicemail.

Raiter filed a grievance over his treatment, and three days later he was removed from an assignment as an instructor and the job opened up for other officers to apply, the lawsuit says. Raiter was later directed to meet with someone from the City Attorney’s Office, who asked him to recount the incidents that led to his filing a grievance, the suit says.

In July 2020, Raiter interviewed for another job with a sheriff’s office — which was not identified in the complaint — and in the course of being interviewed mentioned “that he had sex with his then-girlfriend once while he was on break during one of his shifts,” the lawsuit says.

Raiter did not see this as a problem at the time, the suit says, because the “pattern and practice and culture” at the Oroville Police Department “encouraged” such activity, the suit says.

As examples, the lawsuit says Deal told Raiter in November 2018, when Deal was a sergeant, that he had a “beat wife” and that he “would frequently cover other officers so that they could have sex on duty.”

Allegations of retaliation by chief

Raiter later told the chief that he had applied for the deputy job with the other department but had withdrawn his application, the suit says, and during that Aug. 5, 2020, meeting Deal mentioned that he knew Raiter was in the process of selling his home and wanted to know whom he planned to use in the transaction.

“Chief Deal often pressured members of the department to hire his wife when selling their homes,” the lawsuit says. “Officer Raiter had previously hired Chief Dean’s wife when he purchased his home after Chief Deal kept pressuring him to hire her.”

Raiter ended up not using Deal’s wife, the lawsuit says, and two days after the sale closed on Aug. 10, 2020, Deal removed all of Raiter’s overtime hours and changed his work schedule so that his hours were different every day.

Raiter also found himself facing disciplinary action for a traffic collision, which the lawsuit describes as punishment for filing his grievance.

City ‘rubber-stamped’ officer’s firing

On Sept. 25, 2020, Raiter was summoned to a meeting with Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey and Chief Investigator Juan Diaz and asked “about illegal acts and corruption” at the police department, the lawsuit says, adding that Diaz warned him at the end of the meeting to be careful.

Ramsey confirmed Raiter was interviewed by his office about information he might have, but declined to discuss Raiter’s claims and said there is no ongoing investigation of the police department.

Oroville Mayor Chuck Reynolds did not respond to a phone message and an email request for comment with a copy of the lawsuit attached. Oroville city Administrator Bill LaGrone, who is also the acting police chief, declined to comment Tuesday, citing pending litigation.

The city later brought a disciplinary action against Raiter, accusing him of having sex with his girlfriend while he was on duty, of not wearing a mask during a traffic stop and having a traffic collision, the lawsuit says, and on May 13, 2021, the investigation “rubber-stamped” findings against Raiter by Deal, the suit says.

Court papers say Raiter was terminated after being “denied adequate due process.”

This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 5:00 AM.