30-04-2025
California is hiring MIGRANTS as cops...including Brazilian bosses 'knew had beaten his wife'
A police department in California hired a migrant who has been arrested for rape despite knowing he had previously been apprehended for domestic violence.
Felipe Gomes, a Brazilian migrant, was hired by the Belmont Police Department in the last few months, despite his 2017 arrest for allegedly hitting his wife, according to ABC7.
Just last week, the department had to terminate his position after he was arrested on suspicion of committing forcible rape.
The outlet reported that Belmont Police Chief Ken Stenquist had been informed of Gomes' arrest in 2017, but decided to hire him anyway.
Sources said that the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office and East Palo Alto Police had called warning Stenquist of his arrest and that they had rejected his attempts to be a police officer.
A former commander in San Francisco told the outlet: 'When a department head calls you and says something's wrong, take a closer look or don't hire someone, you should take a closer look.'
Under state law he is allowed to serve as a police officer in California after new legislation was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2022.
Bill SB-960 changed the law to allow non-citizens with valid work authorization to become police officers. Gomes has a work permit, sources told ABC.
Only four months ago Gomes had been introduced as one of their new recruits by Belmont Police Chief Ken Stenquist.
He said: 'He was in the Brazilian Air Force and part of their Air Force Police. He was a full-time police soldier and left that position when he moved to the United States.
'He enjoys practicing jiu jitsu and attending church when he's not working.'
The rape incident is said to have occurred when Gomes was off-duty, police said while they declined to comment further.
In a charging affidavit related to the 2017 incident, Gomes is said to have seen texts on his wife's phone from her ex.
He is then alleged to have struck her repeatedly in the face and the stomach, an officer said his wife was left with a large bruise over her face and scratches to her cheek.
The record indicates that Gomes had accused her of hitting and scratching him first, forcing the state attorney to charge both of them with battery and domestic violence.
The charges against the couple were then dropped a month later.
In an email to ABC7, Chief Stenquist stood by his decision to employ Gomes despite the arrest.
He said: 'Past law enforcement contact that does not result in charges are not disqualifying in of itself under policies or applicable law.'
Rich Corriea, a former San Francisco Police Commander, added: 'In these special victim domestic violence cases, they're often, the charges are dropped.
'They're dropped because the victims have a change of heart all number-- any number of reasons.'
Corriea told the outlet that in this case Gomes should have been disqualified even though the case was dropped.
He added: 'You don't want someone who in a family setting, you know, violence is a place they can escalate to. You want just the opposite. You want natural de-escalators.'
Following his arrest last week, Gomes was booked into the San Mateo County Jail before being released on $100,000 bail bond.
He is set to be at the San Mateo County Superior Court for an arraignment on May 21.
