California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law in 2022 removing a requirement for police, highway patrol, and corrections officers in the state to be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
Now, a foreign national Felipe Gomes, who was hired by the Belmont Police Department after the law went into effect in 2023, was arrested last week on suspicion of rape, The Blaze reported. The Brazilian national was reportedly hired despite a previous arrest in 2017 for domestic violence.
Redwood City Police arrested Gomes at the Belmont Police Department headquarters on April 22, RCPD Sgt. Victor Figueroa said. Gomes is accused of violating penal code 261 (a)(1), which is “knowingly having sexual intercourse with an individual incapable of giving consent because of a mental disorder or developmental or physical disability,” according to the report.
Gomes was subsequently booked into the San Mateo County Office Main Jail and released on $100,000 bond. Belmont Police Lt. Pete Lotti said Gomes was terminated the day after his arrest, the report states.
Gomes was sworn in on Dec. 10 at a Belmont City Council ceremony. At the ceremony, Belmont Police Chief Ken Stenquist said Gomes was in the Brazilian Air Force and worked as 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,” Stenquist added.
The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office and the East Palo Alto Police Department allegedly warned Chief Stenquist about Gomes before he was hired. Both law enforcement agencies said they had rejected his application due to a 2017 domestic violence arrest, KGO-TV reported.
“The charging affidavit reviewed by KGO alleged that one year into his marriage, Gomes — who is not an American citizen but apparently has a U.S. work permit — brutally beat his wife, striking her repeatedly in the face and stomach. Gomes had allegedly done so after seeing text messages on his wife’s phone from her ex-boyfriend,” according to the report.
An officer at the time said he saw a “large bruise that covered most of (his wife’s) left cheek and scratches to her right cheek.”
“The state attorney reportedly factored in Gomes’ claims that his wife hit and scratched him first, charged both husband and wife with battery/domestic violence, and ultimately dropped the charges,” the report details.
Chief Stenquist told the outlet that “past law enforcement contact that does not result in charges are not disqualifying in of itself under policies or applicable law.”
Former San Francisco Police Department commander and head of recruitment Rich Corriea countered that while charges are often dropped in such cases, the incident should still disqualify Gomes from being a police officer.
“You don’t want someone who in a family setting, you know, violence is a place they can escalate to,” Corriea told the outlet. “You want just the opposite. You want natural de-escalators.”
Correia also suggested that hiring foreign nationals for law enforcement work can be risky because such individuals may not completely understand how the American justice system works.
“You better make sure that you… are hiring people that get the many nuances of the role of a police officer,” Corriea said. “There’s no one else, as far as I know, in our entire society that carries a gun and has the authority to shoot you under certain circumstances.”
Gomes is expected to appear at the San Mateo County Superior Court on May 21 for an arraignment.
