California cop ‘abused his position,’ sexually assaulted women, investigator says

When a 36-year-old woman asked a Menifee police officer for a ride home after he investigated her report of domestic violence, she hoped he would ensure she was safe in her residence.

And when a 42-year-old woman showed that same officer videos of her having sex that she said were illegally recorded, she expected legal guidance.

Instead, according to a court filing in the case of the officer accused of eight felony counts, Juan Jose Pesina Jr., 32, betrayed the trust the women had placed in him by sexually assaulting them — and attempted to cover up his actions by failing to turn on his body-worn camera and perhaps disengaging his patrol car’s GPS tracker.

A third woman, 34, filed a complaint two years ago that Pesina asked her out on a date during a traffic stop and, over several months, placed letters written to her in her boyfriend’s mailbox. The couple was so afraid of Pesina that they moved out of the county.

Pesina was arrested on Aug. 12 and charged with eight felony counts on Thursday.

“After completing my investigation … it was clear that Pesina abused his position as Menifee Police Officer,” Riverside County sheriff’s Investigator Juan Andrade wrote in an affidavit asking a judge to hold Pesina without the possibility of bail. “The concern is Pesina, based on the victims’ statements, has a history of abusing his authority as a peace officer and showing up to the victims’ home (sic) unannounced.”

Pesina’s scheduled arraignment on Thursday at the Southwest Justice Center in French Valley was postponed.

Pesina is now due to enter pleas to the charges — sodomy, rape, forced oral copulation, assault during a burglary, burglary of an inhabited dwelling, forced oral copulation, assault with the intent to commit a sex crime and sexual battery — on Sept. 2. No one was available to speak on his behalf for this story.

Attorney Michael D. Schwartz said Pesina has hired him. Schwartz was reviewing documents on Monday, Aug. 18, and has not spoken on Pesina’s behalf yet.

Pesina is on administrative leave. He is being held at Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.

The crimes are alleged to have started three months after Pesina joined the Menifee department following four years with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Pesina worked for the LAPD from June 11, 2018, to Dec. 1, 2022, according to the National Police Index, a database of peace officers. He was hired by Menifee police on Dec. 5, 2022.

Menifee Lt. Paul Barbieri said Pesina applied to work in the city before he left the LAPD and resigned from that department after Menifee offered him a job.

Officer Drake Madison, an LAPD spokesman, said he was unaware of any current LAPD investigation into Pesina.

The Sheriff’s Department began its investigation at the request of Menifee police in July, two days after the domestic violence victim filed a complaint with Menifee, stating that Pesina had raped her more than two years earlier on Feb. 8, 2023. Menifee police told the investigators that they had received two other complaints about Pesina, from the 42- and 34-year-olds, and wanted to hand off the cases to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Menifee Police Chief Chris Karrer on Monday declined to say whether any of the complaints previously had been resolved or whether Pesina had been disciplined over any of them, citing the confidentiality of personnel files.

The women were identified in the affidavit by first names and ages.

In the first alleged attack, the domestic violence victim asked Pesina for a ride home to an address listed in the complaint as an RV park in Menifee. Pesina entered the RV to make sure that the suspect was not hiding inside, the affidavit says. Once it was cleared, Pesina asked the woman to lift her skirt, ostensibly to check for injuries. He then took off his pants and her underwear and forced the woman to give him oral sex before raping her, the affidavit says.

Pesina said he would return the next day, and when he did, he learned the suspect was hiding inside. But he took no action.

“According to (the woman), Pesina left the location and abandoned her with the suspect inside the trailer,” Andrade wrote.

The investigation determined that Pesina violated department policy by failing to have his body-worn camera on during the drive and search of the trailer, Andrade wrote. He added that “coincidentally,” the GPS tracker on his patrol car was not operating on either day.

In January 2024, the 42-year-old woman sought advice from Menifee police on what to do about her boyfriend and roommate surreptitiously videotaping her having sex. Pesina was assigned the case, and he arranged to meet the woman outside a hospital.

The woman showed the videos on her phone to Pesina, who then scrolled through the photo gallery.

“(The woman) noticed that Pesina’s demeanor changed,” the affidavit says.

Pesina then turned off his body-worn camera in violation of department policy, Andrade wrote.

“Pesina told (the woman) she was pretty, to move out and to date other people,” the affidavit says.

Pesina discovered a video of the woman in the shower, fondled himself and asked if she had more images, according to the document.

The woman walked away but not before agreeing to meet Pesina for dinner. As he drove her to the restaurant, Pesina fondled her and kissed her against her will. He asked her for oral sex, but she refused, the affidavit says.

“(The woman) told Pesina she was not interested, and they would have to go out to eat a couple of times first,” the document says.

Ultimately, she got out of the car when they parked and took an Uber home.

In the case of the woman whom Pesina had pulled over, she filed a complaint in September 2023 about the May 2 traffic stop. She told Andrade she refused a date but, feeling pressured, gave Pesina her cellphone number.

The woman said Pesina showed up at the home later that day. Andrade learned that Pesina had assigned himself a “special detail” at that address, and again his patrol car’s GPS tracker was not activated, nor did any body-worn camera video of Pesina’s actions exist, the affidavit said.

Over several months, the affidavit says, Pesina dropped off letters for her at her boyfriend’s home; it is unclear from the document if the couple lived together.

No charges have been filed related to that situation.

Andrade wrote that he corroborated the accounts of the three women through interviews, text messages, cellphone records and other means.