by Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

The City of Claremont has settled out of court for $3 million, bringing an end to a federal civil lawsuit brought by a 38-year-old Highland, California woman alleging sexual misconduct against the city, former police officer Gabriel Arellanes, and 10 unnamed city employees.

“Attorneys for the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority (JPIA), representing the City of Claremont, have agreed to a settlement in the civil lawsuit alleging sexual assault by a former police officer,” Claremont Public Information Officer Bevin Handel wrote in a statement released Friday afternoon. “The civil lawsuit was filed in October of 2024 against former Claremont police officer Gabriel Arellanes and the City of Claremont. The City’s insurance provider has agreed to pay $2,999,999 to the plaintiff Jane Doe in exchange for the release of claims against the City, the former officer, and unnamed defendants.”

The settlement is “not an admission of wrongdoing on the part of the City or the former officer,” Handel wrote.

Lawyers for Arellanes did not respond to requests for comment.

The civil complaint included testimony from the 38-year-old Jane Doe, who alleges Arellanes forced her to perform oral sex on him on February 16, 2024 after he arrested her for possession of drug paraphernalia near Mt. Baldy Road in Claremont.

Arellanes still faces felony criminal charges of forced oral copulation in San Bernardino County Superior Court. A preliminary hearing in that case is scheduled to take place August 13. If convicted, Arellanes could face up to eight years in state prison and be compelled to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

The plaintiff had sought more than $20 million in damages in the civil suit. It accused Arellanes, the City of Claremont, and 10 unnamed city employees of unlawful or unreasonable seizure, use of unreasonable force, and violation of substantive due process. It claimed the defendants violated California Civil Code Section 1708.5, which covers sexual battery, the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act, California Civil Code Section 52.1, and includes accusations of battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It had sought damages “in excess of $20,000,000” for physical, mental and emotional injuries, distress, pain and suffering, attorney’s fees, and medical and psychological costs.

The civil case filing alleges Arellanes questioned Doe on Mt. Baldy Road in Claremont shortly before midnight February 16, 2024 after discovering her “engaged in romantic activities” in the back seat of a car with the father of her children. After questioning, Arellanes arrested her for misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

“JANE DOE was told that she would be taken to the Pomona [police] station to be searched by a female officer because there were no females” officers on duty at the Claremont Police Station, according to the complaint. The complaint alleges Arellanes stopped his patrol car several times on the way to the Pomona Police Station and assaulted her, “… essentially feeling her up and groping her in a sexually assaultive manner.”

After being searched at the Pomona station, Arellanes drove Doe to the Claremont Police Station, where she was booked. After being released she accepted Arellanes’ offer of a ride to the Montclair Transcenter, where the officer parked in a “dark and remote area of the parking lot,” according to the complaint. “Defendant ARELLANES then walked around from the driver’s seat / side of the patrol car to the passenger side of the patrol car, with his erect penis protruding out of his pants, and grabbed JANE DOE’s head and physically forced JANE DOE’s head down onto his penis and physically forced her to orally copulate him, all while JANE DOE was looking at defendant ARELLANES’ pistol; scaring her to not resist her head being pulled down onto ARELLANES’ penis, and scared not to orally copulate him, due to his power over her as a police officer, and scared that under the circumstances, ARELLANES would physically harm her for any refusal, resistance of failure to orally copulate him,” reads the complaint. “After defendant ARELLANES ejaculated into and onto JANE DOE, he then left JANE DOE at the Montclair Transcenter.”

The City of Claremont learned of the criminal allegations in March 2024 when a liability claim was filed. Arellanes was subsequently placed on paid administrative leave. He was arrested March 14, 2024 by San Bernardino County Sheriff Department’s Specialized Investigations, charged with felony forced oral copulation. The city paid his full salary, a total of $76,574, during the near 11 months he was on paid administrative leave. Arellanes resigned January 29.

“The Claremont Police Department acted honorably in referring Jane Doe’s complaint that she had been sexually assaulted by an on-duty Claremont police officer to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, and in paying her fair compensation for the sexual assault perpetrated against her by one of its officers,” wrote the plaintiff’s lawyer, Jerry Steering, in a news release. “These days most police agencies do not act with such decency.”