By The Vanguard Staff
STOCKTON, CA – Women and men testified they were sexually abused and harassed by former Stockton police officer Sgt. Nicholas Bloed, who had his preliminary hearing this week in San Joaquin County Superior Court.
Bloed, 41, is in custody. He was charged in November with assault, sodomy and oral copulation by use of force or injury, paying for sex, and receiving bribes.
The identities of the half dozen witnesses are being withheld to protect their privacy, but include men and women, aged from their early 20s to more than 50 years old.
Some who testified said Bloed’s status as a police officer pressured them into having sex with him, others said they engaged in “consensual” sex acts but, the “possibility” of arrests factored into their decision, according to accounts in the Stockton Record.
Witnesses said they were approached by Bloed, who was in uniform in a police vehicle, who asked for their phone numbers and later texted and spoke with them.
San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar said, Bloed “was looking for particularly vulnerable people” when pulling people over prior to the alleged assaults.”
According to news accounts of the prelim, one witness said she believed she had no choice but to have sex with the officer because she had already been stopped twice by the officer, who had made sexually suggestive comments to her.
She said she was also experiencing money problems, and was living in her car and thought the officer might impound it.
“I was afraid to say no,” she said. “I was afraid he would put me in jail, impound my home, my car. I feared and I wanted it to stop. No more harassment, (feeling) worried about where he’s going to be,” she said.
A man, 35, also said he felt forced to have a sexual encounter with the officer “because he was a cop. I felt like he just had more authority than me.”
Others testified Bloed pulled them over and asked for their phone numbers, and another man said he started a sexual relationship with Bloed because he thought the officer might arrest him for drug use.
Bloed’s defense attorney insisted Bloed did not violate the consent of those who testified and that Bloed’s status as a police officer didn’t created pressure for the alleged victims to comply.
