Contra Costa Deputy named in OPD misconduct investigation resigns

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, Calif. - A Contra Costa County sheriff's deputy under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct with a teen girl at the center of a larger investigation has resigned, a sheriff's spokesman said today.

Former Deputy Sheriff Ricardo Perez became the subject of an internal sheriff's office investigation after it was revealed that he was allegedly implicated in a widespread investigation into inappropriate relationships existing between law enforcement personnel and a police dispatcher's underage daughter.

The original allegations of the misconduct emerged when the Oakland Police Department's internal affairs division investigated the suicide of Officer Brendan O'Brien last September.

Three Oakland police officers have been placed on leave and another two resigned. Oakland's police chief Sean Whent also resigned but a connection between the scandal and his exit was never made explicit by police or city officials.

Perez is still the subject of an Oakland police criminal investigation, according to the sheriff's office.

In the meantime, he is no longer employed with the sheriff's office, which issued a statement on the resignation today.

"We earn the public trust through honesty, transparency and accountability," Sheriff David Livingston said.

"Although this case involved one deputy out of the over one thousand sheriff's office employees, we will not tolerate even a single breach of the public trust we work so hard to earn."