Two Chicago police officers charged with criminal sexual assault and official misconduct were each ordered held Thursday on $500,000 bond.
Charges were filed Wednesday against officers Paul Clavijo, 38, and Juan Vasquez, 38, both 10-year veterans of the force, in connection with an alleged sexual assault in March.
Clavijo is charged with two counts of criminal sexual assault and two counts of official misconduct. Vasquez was charged with a single count of each.
Clavijo faces the second count of aggravated criminal sexual assault for a similar incident that happened March 10 involving a 26-year-old woman. In that case, prosecutors say the woman was able to fight off the attack inside her apartment.
In late March, a 22-year-old woman filed a report alleging that she'd been sexually assaulted by two uniformed police officers in a marked police SUV and in her apartment.
Though she admitted she never said "no" to the officers' advances, police records reported her saying that she felt threatened by their authority.
The officers were arrested, immediately stripped of their authority and have been on administrative duty.
Interim police Supt. Terry Hillard at the time said the officers' actions, if true, could not be justified.
"The alleged criminal actions of these officers infuriate the thousands of honorable, proud officers that make up the Chicago Police Department who have taken an oath to protect the citizens of Chicago," the department said in a late Wednesday night statement. "The Department and the law enforcement community will not tolerate anyone who disgraces the badge by violating the law and the public's trust."
Since the woman's initial report, nearly a half-dozen woman have reportedly come forward with sexual assault allegations involving the officers.
