A deputy within the Special Victims Bureau of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has been arrested on suspicion of rape and preventing or dissuading a witness from testifying, the department said Monday.
Neil Kimball, 45, was arrested on Friday after the department launched an investigation going off a tip from the public, according to a Sheriff’s Department statement emailed to KTLA. Inmate records show he was arrested at 6 p.m.
The department did not release a statement about Kimball’s arrest at the time.
The victim is a 14-year-old girl involved in a case Kimball was investigating, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The alleged crimes occurred somewhere in Ventura County, the department said.
“When Investigators became aware of the alleged criminal misconduct, they immediately initiated an internal investigation,” the statement reads.
Sheriff’s officials are now working the case alongside the the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office.
Kimball “was relieved of duty with pay” and taken into custody with his bail set at $2 million, according to sheriff’s officials.
“When allegations of criminal activity involve law enforcement, we have systems in place to root out misconduct within the organization, as well as any Department member who chooses to violate the law and public trust,” the department statement reads.
