SAN DIEGO (CNS) - An Oct. 6 trial date was set Tuesday for a former San Diego police officer accused of raping a prostitute in Presidio Park while on duty after threatening to take her to jail if she refused to have sex with him.
Daniel Edward Dana, 26, pleaded not guilty at his Superior Court arraignment to charges of rape under the color of authority, oral copulation under the color of authority, false imprisonment and assault by an officer.
The former officer -- free on $300,000 bail -- faces more than 17 years in prison if convicted, said Deputy District Attorney Annette Irving.
The 35-year-old alleged victim testified earlier this month that she met Dana in late April while she worked as a prostitute on El Cajon Boulevard. She said she was standing by a Denny's restaurant when she saw Dana's patrol car and immediately tried to walk away because she was already on probation for a prostitution conviction.
The woman said Dana stopped his patrol car in a nearby alley.
"I said, `I know I'm not supposed to be here,"' she said. "He said he wasn't out here for that."
The alleged victim said Dana got out of his patrol car and introduced himself, then asked for her name and cell phone number, which he entered into his cell phone. The two later exchanged pleasant text messages, and she thought of the defendant as someone who she could count on to warn her of police activity in prostitution areas, she testified.
Sometime later, the woman said Dana texted her from his Jacuzzi, saying he wished she could be there with him. She said she had no problem with the idea of having sex with a police officer as long as he paid.
On the night of May 10, the woman said she went to a downtown club looking for clients because there was too much police activity on El Cajon Boulevard. She said she got a ride home from the club, then changed clothes and headed out to work on El Cajon Boulevard.
Around 2:30 a.m., the woman said she got a text, then a call from Dana, but she was busy with a potential client. She said the client fell through and she asked the man to drop off her off at a nearby 7-Eleven, where the defendant pulled up into a side alley in his patrol car.
The alleged victim said she and Dana made small talk near the rear of his patrol car, then he demanded sex.
"He said either I give him what he wants or I go to jail," the woman testified. "Either I have sex with him or I go to jail."
She testified that Dana put her in the back of his patrol car, then drove off.
After 3 a.m., the officer pulled into a dark park and told the woman to sit in the front seat, the witness said. She said she smoked a cigarette while Dana took off his belt and walkie-talkie. Dana demanded oral sex, then had sexual intercourse with her.
After the encounter, she put her pants back on and Dana drove her back to El Cajon Boulevard, she testified. On the drive back, the woman said she licked her fingers and wiped saliva on the front seat of Dana's patrol car to leave proof that she had been there.
She said she wasn't sure what she was going to do, but a female cab driver persuaded her to call 911 when she got home, which she did, after which she was questioned by officers and taken for a sexual assault exam.
Defense attorney William Wolfe said the alleged victim routinely violated her probation by going out to work as a prostitute on El Cajon Boulevard. He said the sex could have been consensual and called the alleged victim's credibility into question.
