Sub-Inspectors abused by the police in the training program; Whittier will pay $3.5 million, the attorney said

Four former Whittier Police Explorer women who accused the former officers of sexual assault will receive a $3.5-million settlement from the city, the women’s attorney announced Wednesday.

Anthony DeMarco, an attorney who helped secure a more than $700-million settlement with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for victims of priest sex crimes, said Whittier city attorneys agreed to the settlement shortly before the first of the two lawsuits went to trial.

A spokesman for the city of Whittier could not be reached for comment.

According to the lawsuits, the former inspectors were sexually abused by several officers in the late 1970s when they were 14 to 18 years old. The lawsuits allege that Whittier’s police culture allows officers to abuse their authority to sexually engage young female detectives who are supposed to be mentors.

At the core of these allegations was a retired police officer, Charles Drylie, who was guiding the youth, who was allegedly grooming them, then sexually assaulted them in a police car during duty, according to the charges. Drylie’s attorney could not be reached for comment.

The harassment occurred while the city police were carrying out Explorer duties. According to the charges, Drylie, who worked there until the late 1980s, used “Ride-Along” jobs to separate young female Inspectors, treat them and force them to have sex. In another incident, an unnamed corporal who replaced Drylie continued to sexually assault her, according to the lawsuit filed in 2022. In a statement, DeMarco said Drylie invoked his right not to incriminate himself.

“Ride-Alongs” typically involve one officer, accompanied by one Explorer in the vehicle for all or most of the officer’s shift. The accompanying ride, the suits say, allowed the officer unrestricted and unsupervised contact with the Inspector away from any accountability for hours at a time, and often well into the evening.

Since the Police Explorer programs began in the early 1970s, there have been complaints of officers harassing young female explorers, and especially during “Ride-Alongs,” DeMarco said. He secured a $4-million legal victory for three victims in the Irwindale Explorer project in 2018.

One of the women who was allegedly sexually assaulted by two Whittier police officers told The Times, “It was a nice group of older guys and the officers protecting each other.”

She said she was sexually assaulted while on “Ride Alongs.” “These police were at my parents’ house,” said the woman, who was a police officer but is not known because she is a victim of sex crimes. “They befriend you and say all the right things to get to you,” she said. “We as victims didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t know one of my best friends was also a victim until years later.”

One woman in the case told The Times, “I want people to know that parents need to be very careful with the police officer who works at the Explorer centers.”

DeMarco said two other lawsuits involving the Explorer department program are also pending.

“The Police Explorer programs, especially the ‘Ride-Alongs,’ are the safest youth-oriented program in the country when it comes to protecting children who are sexually abused by the adults who are a part of the program,” said DeMarco.

He said former inspectors believed the case had brought some measure of accountability.