A Santa Ana woman got a $4.5M settlement after allegedly being sexually assaulted twice by a former CHP officer

A former CHP officer, Xavier Aguirre, has cost the State of California $4.5M after lawyers settled with an unidentified Santa Ana woman who said she was sexually assaulted by Aguirre, not once but twice!

The victim, a 49-year-old Hispanic woman who barely speaks English was a passenger in a Ford Expedition that Aguirre pulled over at around 5:30 p.m. on April 6, 2018, on the 5 freeway in Santa Ana. Aguirre pulled over the vehicle due to expired license plates.

Aguirre allegedly told the victim to get out of the car and to pull her pants down so he could frisk her. Then he groped her breasts and genitalia on the side of the freeway.

But Aguirre wasn’t done with her yet. He showed up at her apartment, unannounced, three hours later and he accused her of giving him a false address. She then retorted that if the address was false how did he find her?

Aguirre then had her follow him to his patrol car. He opened the front and rear passenger doors of his patrol car and told her to stand between them and then he frisked her again and the victim said she noticed he was physically aroused.

Aguirre continued to grope the victim’s breasts and genitalia but finally stopped after he saw someone in the area. The officer then loudly said “No problem, the ticket can be paid in Santa Ana or Westminster.”

However Aguirre did not issue her a citation but he did ask if he could come back on Saturday or Sunday and of course she said no.

The victim called the SAPD three says later to report the sexual assault.

Aguirre denied the assaults. He admitted that he ran into the woman during the traffic stop and that he went to her apartment and frisked her both times.

The victim’s lawyer, Neda Lofti, told the court that Aguirre was caught on surveillance video at the home and that he turned off his body-worn camera during both incidents.

Aguirre is no longer a CHP officer. He left the department in September of 2019 after being employed for less than two years.

Aguirre was never arrested by the SAPD as the OCDA rejected the case. The OCDA’s spokeswoman said there was not enough evidence for them to file charges against Aguirre in a criminal court.

Lofti claims the victim is suffering from PTSD related stress due to the repeated sexual assaults.

The victim got her settlement check this week. However the CHP is still on the hook for another lawsuit involving another woman who was allegedly sexually assaulted by Aguirre on the same day that he went after the Santa Ana woman.

The second victim was involved in a car crash on the 55 Freeway that same day. Aguirre showed up at the crash and had her sit in the backseat of his patrol car to wait for a tow truck. But then he proceeded to frisk her before she could get into the vehicle and he allegedly groped her breasts, buttocks, waist and thighs.

While the CHP paid up Aguirre, as noted, did not pay a price for his alleged actions. His Linkedin Page says he is now a student at CSU San Bernardino. His pay and benefits at the CHP approached $200K according to Transparent California.