Prosecutor: Ex-Livermore Cop in Sex Exploitation Case Has History of Complaints

New allegations emerged Tuesday at the arraignment of a former Livermore police officer accused of engaging in prostitution with the teenager at the center of a sprawling law enforcement sexual exploitation case.

Jasmine Abuslin, also known as Celeste Guap, appears to have been a victim of child sex trafficking. The now 19-year-old said she had sex with some 30 officers in the last couple of years, and that some of those encounters occurred before she turned 18.

The Alameda County district attorney alleged that 49-year-old Daniel Black took the teen to restaurants in April, then had sex with her in his motor home in Berkeley and Albany parking lots.

The former officer faces five misdemeanor counts for lewd conduct in a public place, engaging in an act of prostitution and giving alcohol to a minor.

Black did not show up for his arraignment in Oakland, but his attorney, Fatima Silva, entered a not guilty plea to the charges. She also asked the judge to waive bail because Black, with a daughter and a home in the Bay Area, poses no flight risk.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Tara Flanagan denied the request and ordered Black to post $14,000 bail or turn himself in at the Santa Rita Jail by 5 p.m. Tuesday to be booked on the charges.

Flanagan said she had to consider not just Black's flight risk but the risk he posed to public safety and to the witness. She said that, as a former police officer, the charges against Black -- if true -- violated the public trust.

Deputy District Attorney Sabrina Farrell told Flanagan that the former police officer had been the subject of complaints before, including an incident where he recorded himself having sex with someone without asking her permission. Black was also placed on desk duty this year because of a complaint over how he handled a report from a victim, Farrell said.

From SFGate's write-up of the hearing:

Black had recorded someone without her permission while they were having sex, and in another instance had sex with someone under the influence, Farrell said.

Prosecutors accused Black of reaching out to Jasmine through Facebook and setting up meetings with her. On April 8, he told Jasmine, “Just to be clear, I’m not going to pay you, but I will buy you dinner,” according to court records. Later that night and the next morning, they engaged in oral copulation and sexual intercourse inside his recreational vehicle, visible from a public street, according to records.
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Black told Jasmine that she could drink his alcohol, prosecutors say. “‘Go ahead and help yourself. I’m going to turn my back,’” Farrell said in court, quoting what Black allegedly told Jasmine, who is the daughter of an Oakland police dispatcher.

Five days later, Black paid for Jasmine’s dinner at an Albany restaurant before they again engaged in oral copulation near the waterfront and Interstate 80 in his motor home.

The preliminary hearing for the case was set for Oct. 24.