by Mick Rhodes | editor@claremont-courier.com

and

Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

Former Claremont Police Department officer Gabriel Arellanes pled not guilty to felony forcible oral copulation at an April 30 arraignment hearing in Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court.

Arellanes is due to appear in San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Richard Peel’s courtroom at 8:30 a.m. Monday, June 23 for a pre-preliminary hearing. 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 felony criminal charge stems from a February 16, 2024 incident during which Arellanes, 32, allegedly discovered a 38-year-old Highland, California woman “engaged in romantic activities” with a man in the back seat of a car parked off Mt. Baldy Road in Claremont. That encounter led to the woman being arrested for misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, a methamphetamine pipe, after which Arellanes is alleged to have forced her to perform oral sex on him at the Montclair Trans Center.

The criminal case is proceeding alongside a wide-ranging civil complaint, filed October 4, 2024, in which the woman, known as “Jane Doe” in the civil suit, accuses Arellanes, the City of Claremont, and 10 city employees of sexual battery and civil rights violations relating to the February 16, 2024 arrest, and seeks up to $25 million in damages.

The City of Claremont learned of the allegations against Arellanes on March 18, 2024, when a liability claim was filed. His peace officer powers were immediately suspended, and he was placed on paid administrative leave. He remained on paid leave until he resigned on January 29, over which time he collected $76,574 in salary.

The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office filed the criminal charge against Arellanes on March 7. He was arrested by the SB County Sheriff Department’s Specialized Investigations Division on March 14 and released on bail the following day.

In April, U.S. District Court Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong granted a motion from Arellanes’ lawyer, Konrad Rasmussen of McCormick, Mitchell & Rasmussen, to stay civil proceedings for six months as the criminal case proceeds.

She also approved a joint rule 26 scheduling conference report by Arellanes’ attorneys, the plaintiff, and the City of Claremont, to set a March 11, 2026 deadline for completion of settlement conferences, preferably through private mediation. On April 7, the court set a final pretrial conference hearing for May 20, 2026, with a jury trial beginning as soon as June 8, 2026.